The Reason
by Tonyahuqt03
Summary: Sometimes you got to what's wrong to make it right for the people you love. Letty's life after Dom leaves her in the Dominican Republic.
1. Chapter 1

Zan walked into his house it was quiet. Even though it was 8:30AM on a Saturday quiet at his house never a good thing. His dog Runner jumped on him as he closed the door. He patted the dog then looked for his parents. He found his mother sitting on the bed staring a stack a bills and his father's cross. She was quiet and he could tell that she had been crying. His mother didn't cry, ever. He glance into his room and he saw the white envelope on his bed. He walked in there and picked it up. It had his name written on it with his father's handwriting. He didn't bother opening it he ripped it in two and threw it in the trash.

"Mom." He called softly. The women didn't answer she just keep staring at objects on her dresser. He walked up to her and place his hand on her shoulder. "Mom." He said again.

This time she looked at him. "Hey baby." She replied softly. She wiped her eyes and smiled. "I thought you were going to stay with Jorge until Sunday?"

"His grandma had a stroke."

"How come Coral didn't call me. I would of come and got you."

"She did."

A car horn sounded. His mother jumped. "That's Ms. Coral she wanted to make sure you were home before she pulled off." He told her.

She nodded. His mother took the money and cross and shoved it in the drawer. She got up and kissed him on the forehead. Zan watched his mother go the front door and waive off Jorge's mother. He pulled open the drawer she just closed and pulled out his father's cross. His father was always wearing it. He loved that thing it was the last thing his father given to him before he died. Zan shoved it back in the drawer when he heard her footsteps come closer.

"Hey mom you wanna go surfing?" He asked as she returned to her room.

Surfing was his favorite thing to do with his mother. It was something that only him and his mother did. His father wasn't a big fan of water. They would sit and wait for the perfect wave and talk. They talked about everything and nothing. Joke around how big of a baby his dad was for not coming out with them. They really didn't do much actually surfing only catching a couple of waves that they deemed worthy of their effort. He didn't care, it was their time.

His mother smiled. Zan loved that smile, she had the best smile of anyone he knew. His dad said that his mother's smile could make his world stop. He never knew what his father meant by that, until now.

"Sure, kiddo let me get changed." She kissed him on the forehead.

Zan followed her lead and changed into his surfing gear. He couldn't take his eyes off of the torn paper in the waste basket.

"Let's ride." His mother called out. Runner was barking loudly jogging out behind her. "Lock the door behind you."

It was a beautiful morning the ocean was quiet. Letty sighed in deeply trying not to cry. She didn't want to be one of those women whose world would crumble because their man left them. She had their son, no her son to take care of. He had threaten to leave more than once, but never made good. But, this time was different. She knew it when the words left his mouth. _"I don't want you and Zan around when the cops come around."_ She kissed him and tried to convince them that they were invincible as long as they were together. _"Ride or die."_ She told him. The way that he looked at her, the way he kissed her, the way the made love that night she wasn't too surprise when she woke up and he was gone. What pissed her off was that he left while she was asleep, while their son was off staying the night at a friends. He didn't have the balls to say goodbye to their faces. He owned her that much, he own Zan that. And to add insult to injury he left a stack of cash on the night stand like she was some fly by night hooker. Not the women that had been by his side since he got out of jail, put up with his bullshit until he was ready for a real relationship, bore his child, hijacked trucks with him, went on the run most of all loved him without question without faltering. And he left money on the nightstand.

"He left didn't he." Zan said after a while. He couldn't stand the quiet anymore.

"Yeah baby." Letty turned to look at her son. "We're gonna be ok." She reassured him. She took his hand. "It's just you and me kiddo, for now on."

"I hate him."

Letty shook his head. "You don't mean that."  
"Yes I do. You guys didn't think I could hear you all those times, but I did."

"He had his reasons for leaving..."

"Whatever." Zan paddled forward to get away from his mother. He hated his father for leaving them, but most of all he hated him for making his mother cry. His arms were beginning to hurt. He looked back to see how far he had gone he could make out was his mother splashing around with Runner.

Letty threw a tennis ball into the ocean. Runner happily ran after it. She plopped down in the sand digging her toes into it. Runner came shaking himself dry dropping the ball. Letty threw it again. The dog ran after it again leaping into the water. She kept an eye on Zan as he waited for his wave. She knew that she had to make a game plan and that plan didn't involve her staying in the Dominican Republic. She pulled her cell phone from her beach bag. "Tego**, **usted hombre fachero. Cómo usted que vive?"

After surfing Zan was banned to his room. He knew that something was going on, music was blasting and his parents' friends were over. He sat leaned against the door hoping to hear what was going on, but no luck all he could hear was music.

"So, what you want to do Let, we're here for you Mami." Tego said offering his hand.

She took a sip of her Corona. "I need to go back to L.A. make things right there."

Han shook his head. "Don't think that's a good idea. Once you cross that boarder cops will down on you Letty and I know Dom wouldn't want that."

"Fuck Dom, Han." She gulped the rest down and tried to grab another from the frig but Han stopped her.

"Move." She warned.

He didn't move. "Look L.A. a bad idea. I'm leaving to go to Tokyo in a couple of days. I can arrange for you and Zan to come with me."

Letty eyebrow lifted. Han smiled. "Come on Let, it'll be fun..." He grabbed her waist. "They're doing some crazy stuff over there." He playfully shook her. "We'd run that city you, me, Zan. Tokyo wouldn't know what hit them."

Letty bit her bottom lip. Han's offer was tempting but she needed to go back home. She ran out on her family, on Mia without a goodbye. Besides the one person she knew who could make things right was in L.A. and Letty needed to get to him to make things right for her family.

"Tokyo does sound like fun, but I need to stop running. Plant my feet somewhere solid. Zan needs that right now."

"No changing your mind, huh?"

Letty opened the frig and grabbed a water. "Nope."

Han nodded. "Alright what do you need us to do."

The music stopped and Zan stood up. The little pow wow was over and his door opened.

"Hear anything good?" Letty asked sitting on his bed.

He shook his head. "Nope, music to loud."

She laughed. They were silent.

"We're moving again, aren't we?"

Letty wrapped her arm around her son. "Last, time kiddo."

He sighed he heard that a million times. "Yeah right." He mumbled.

"No, this time I mean it."

He looked up. "Really? Where we going?"

"L.A."

Zan scrunched up his face. "What's in L.A.?"

"Familia, kiddo."

* * *

Mia was tired, she had just come off a double shift at the hospital and all she wanted to do was sleep. She popped in a frozen dinner in the microwave and grabbed a drink. She flopped down on the couch flipping on the TV. She picked up the mail she threw down on the coffee table. She opened a white envelope with no returned address. She knew who it was when she saw the chicken scratch handwriting, Leon had the worst handwriting in all man kind. He would write her every few months from what ever town he was at telling her he was ok and wishing her well. She would read his letters over and over again, hoping to find a clue about Vince. The last time she heard from Vince was a couple of months after he broke out the hospital. He had called to tell her that he wasn't dead and don't worry about him. Also he told her he didn't blame her for the buster, he knew that she had a weakness for pretty boys, just like he had a weakness for her. Mia heart broke when he told her that and wished that she felt the same way he did. Maybe things would have turned out differently. The microwave beep breaking her from her trance.

Letty sat outside her old home. It looked exactly the same minus all the cars parked in front of it and loud music shaking the shingles. Runner whined in the backseat. Letty vowed never to travel with an eight year old and a dog again. She had the boys arraigned for her and Zan to take a boat to Mexico and there was a car waiting for her at the docks when she arrived. What should have been hours to get to L.A. took a couple of days because of pee breaks for Zan and Runner. She opened the door and Runner hopped out immediately finding the nearest tree. After he was finish she order him back into the jeep where Zan was still sleeping. Letty closed the door and took the steps to the house.

Mia was about to head upstairs when the doorbell rang. She looked at her watch it was 3AM. The last time her doorbell at 3AM it was the police looking for Vince. It a few days after his surgery, the police said that he had broke out the hospital stealing some medical supplies from an ambulance and stole a car. He had disappeared into the night. Everyone always underestimated him. She was hesitant to answer, but it rang again multiple times in a row. She swung it open to tell whoever it was to piss off.

Mia was frozen at the familiar figure standing in front of her.

"Hey girl how you living?" Letty said standing in her door frame with a grin on her face.


	2. Chapter 2

"Are you going to let me in or just stand there with your mouth open?" Letty stood in the door frame with her hands on her hip.

Mia stood frozen. The women looked so familiar, but different. No longer was the gangly tomboy of her childhood, the object of her brother's affections, or one of the guys to Vince, Jesse, and Leon but a self actualize woman. "Letty?" Mia finally croaked out. Tears burst out of her eyes as she grabbed the woman into an embrace. "God, Letty."

Letty hugged Mia just as tight. It felt good to be in familiar arms again.

Zan woke up to Runner licking his face. He pushed the offensive mutt off. He saw his mother in front of a strange house hugging someone. He got out the car to see who it was. As soon as he opened the door Runner flew out. "Runner!" Zan ran after the dog.

Runner jumped on Letty's back pushing her forward almost knocking Mia down. "Jesus." Mia yelp stepping back from the beast who was wagging his tail gingerly. Once again Mia was speechless when she saw the boy hold back the dog. He was skinny like Letty used to be, but he had her brother's built. The boy looked up and he had the most beautiful set of brown eyes. "God, Letty."

Letty looked down at her son and smiled. "Mia, this is you nephew Alexander and the beast is Runner." Letty said petting the dog. "Zan go get his lease out the car."

Mia watched as the boy silently obey. "Nephew." Was all Mia could mumble.

Letty laughed. "Yeah he's turning nine in a couple of months. Hoping maybe you could make that strawberry chocolate cake you used to make?"

Mia did the math in her head. "Let, that means..."

Letty nodded she knew what Mia was referring too. She was pregnant while hijacking trucks. Truth be told Letty knew something was up during that time, but never paid it much mind. She was never a regular type of girl. Dom was the one to notice that she hadn't had her period, he always kept track for some reason. Letty just figured she hadn't had it because of stress. They bought a pregnancy test in some random Mexican town and took it in some motel by the highway. She remembered that she couldn't pee with Dom standing outside the door.

"_I can hear you breathing." Letty shouted through the door._

_Dom rubbed his head. "Let, just pee will ya." He commanded on the other end. _

"_I can't pee on command, Dom." She swung the door open. _

_Dom began to pace in the small motel room that they shared. He was like a cage tiger wanting to pounce. Letty grabbed his wrist pulling him close to her. "Why don't you go for a drive." She told him sweetly. She rubbed the back of his head._

_He shook his head. "Don't want to leave you alone." He wrapped his arms around her waist._

_Letty nipped at his bottom lip. He smirked. "I'm a big girl. Been peeing by myself for a while now. I think I can handle it."_

"_I know, but. What if..." Letty pushed him towards the door._

"_As soon as you leave, the sooner we'll know." She tossed him the car keys. Reluctantly he complied. She let out a sigh of relief and returned to the bathroom. She turned on the facet, stuck her hand underneath and prayed to the porcelain gods to make her pee on that little stick._

_When Dom returned she was sitting on the dingy edge of the tub staring at the stick. They had bought several test, they wanted to make sure. All of them lead to the same conclusion._

"_Well?" Dom's baritone voice asked breaking the silence._

_She looked up at him. "We're gonna need a car seat."_

Mia realized that they had been standing in the door forever. "God, come on in." She moved out the way to allow Letty in.

Letty slowly stepped into the house that once was her home. All the memories came flooding back at once. Vince sitting in the corner plucking at his guitar. Leon on the phone trying to sweet talk some girl into sleeping with him. Jesse sprawled out on the floor with his designs. Her wrapped in Dom's arm watching some horrible B-horror movie. And Mia in the back working on homework yelling at Vince to quiet down. She hated those lazy days back then, she wanted more. She wanted an a_drenalin_ rush. Now she longed for those simple days again of just being. Not looking over her shoulders every five minutes, moving every couple of months when things got thick, jumping from moving vehicles. The simplicity of a normal existence.

Zan walked into the house after his mother. It was a homey type of place. The type of place that had been lived in. His mom always tried to make their homes look like this, but when you move every few months it makes it hard to make a house a home. "Mom." Zan said.

"Yeah."

"I gotta pee."

"Upstairs to the left." She pointed behind her. Zan quickly ran up the stairs following her instructions.

Mia returned with to mugs of tea. "Letty." Mia said hesitantly.

Letty pushed Runner off the couch where he had made himself comfortable. The dog whimpered as he hopped off and found another spot on the lazy boy. Mia handed her a mug.

"How come you never called? I thought you were dead or something. Leon said..."

"Wait you've talked to Leon?" Letty put down her mug.

Mia shrugged."Not really talk, more of a one way correspondence. He writes every now and then. He said that he left you in a hotel in Baja with Dom... So, you been with Dom this whole time? How come he didn't tell me that you were with him? That I had a nephew?"

Letty sighed and closed her eyes. She really didn't have an answer for her. She had told Dom to tell his sister that she was with him. But, he refused. Thought it was better for all of them if no one knew where she was.

Mia scoffed. "He could of at least told me you were ok. All this time, Letty. I had no idea that you and him were playing house somewhere." The last part came out more harshly than Mia had anticipated, but she wanted to make the point that she was hurt.

Letty shut her eyes tighter. "Mia." She pleaded. "You know Dom, he had his reasons for not telling you."

Zan sat at the top of the stairs silently listening to his mother and Mia. He had heard the name Mia from his parents a number of times. They would argue over her all the time. They would argue over a lot of things, but in the morning they would always make up. He would always be there in the morning. Sitting in the kitchen eating a huge bowl of Lucky Charms. Until that last morning he saw his mother sitting alone in their room, crying in the dark. He balled his fists. Now this Mia was crying because of him. How come his father seemed to make the people he supposedly love cry so much?

He got up, he couldn't listen anymore. He decided to explore a bit. He went into the room next to the bathroom. There were a bunch of medical books on the bookshelf. He picked up a picture of Mia and his father. He looked the same age as he was, Mia much younger. She had this smile this big toothless grin. They both stood behind a large man that looked like his Dad does now. Zan figured this was his grandfather. He put that picture down and picked another one up. This one was with Mia and his Mom. She was wearing a really short tight skirt and a see through top. "Gross." He quickly put that one down. He left Mia's room and entered another. This room wasn't lived in like Mia's. The furniture had sheets over them. There were a bunch of magazine and dirty clothes on the floor. He picked up one of the magazines it had a naked woman on the front. He scrunched up his face and tossed it aside. He pulled a sheet off and it revealed at large computer and more naked girl magazines underneath. He moved the magazines aside and turned on the ancient computer. It took a while to warm up, but when it did on the monitor there was a picture of his mom with a skinny blond haired guy. She had the guy in a head lock giving him a noogie. She had one of her radiant smiles in that picture. He wonder if this was the guy he got his middle name from. He dared to pick another magazine up to see whose name was on the subscription. This time it was car magazine and Jesse Campbell was the owner. Zan shut the computer down and replaced the sheet. The next room was across from Jesse's. When he opened the door and this room hadn't been lived in either. He took a sheet off the dresser like the other dresser in Mia's room it had the same picture of his Dad, Mia, and his grandfather. He picked up another picture. It was of his Dad and Mom. They looked happy. She was sitting in his lap smiling staring in his eyes. His father seemed totally entranced by her. His Dad did say her smile made his world stop. Zan took the picture out the frame, folded it, and put it in his pocket. There was another picture of his Mom, Dad, and Jesse with a couple of other guys. They were all smiling in front of a garage with DT Designs on the marquee. Next to that picture there was a frame dollar bill. He looked around some more rummaging through drawers and the closet. He wanted to know who his parents were. They seemed like two different people in those pictures.

"So what happened?" Mia asked after a lull of silence.

"You know that saying you can't teach a new dog new tricks?" Mia nodded. "Well the same goes for your brother." Letty took a sip of her tea. God she hated tea, always has. But, for some reason Mia always made her a cup when she was feeling sad. "We were doing good for a while. Laying low, living off the money Dom had squirreled away taking odd jobs here and there. Then Zan got sick, really sick. Medicine, doctors cost money. Money Dom and I didn't have. So Dom started racing again to make some quick cash. But it wasn't enough. We hooked up with some guys down there. Formed a team." Letty laughed slightly. "Dom found some unsavory people who were willing to pay for some unsavory jobs. So we started hijacking trucks."

Mia repositioned herself on the couch. "You guys started hijacking trucks again? After everything that happened! Jesus Letty how could you be so, stupid? You were supposed to be the sane one."

"We didn't have a choice Mia. Trust me. We tried, we really tried. But, we needed the money."

Mia got up. She started to pace the room. She reminded Letty of Dom, how he paces the room like a caged animal. "No you didn't. You could of come home. You could of called me Let. I'm a nurse! I could of helped take care of my nephew that by the way I didn't even realize I had."

Letty sat there quietly and listened to Mia rant. She had said the same words to Dom three years ago. But he didn't want to hear it. His pride wouldn't let him ask for help.

"_I don't see no other way, Let." Dom pushed back Zan's hair. His heart was breaking that his son was sick and there was nothing he could do about it. Letty sat in a chair on the opposite side of the room with her arms crossed. She didn't want to go down this road again. "It's a bad idea. I can take on a couple more shifts at the garage. Iris said they were hiring maids at the hotel she works at."_

_Dom shook his head dismissing the idea. "I don't want you working yourself to death. It's one job Letty. One job that can pay for Zan's medical bills..."_

_Letty got up. "It's always one fucking job with you Dom." She stared out the window. She couldn't believe that Dom would ask her to do this again. The last time she barely came out alive. Vince got hurt, Jesse died, Leon left, and they had to leave Mia behind. She felt Dom's arms wrap around her. "We do this job. Zan gets the help he needs. Then we can get that house by the beach you want." He placed his chin on her shoulder. "I need you by me. I can't do this alone." He kissed her shoulder. "Ride or die, Let. Ride or die."_


	3. Chapter 3

Mia and Letty sat on the couch for what seemed like hours. Letty began to feel like see was on Oprah barring her soul for all. But she knew she owed it to Mia the truth about the last 8 years. Hell she owned it to herself to say it out loud. Finally Mia got to the heart of the matter. Where was her brother.

"So, he just left. Like that in the middle of the night." Mia couldn't believe that Dom would do something like that, just leave Letty and Zan like that. She wondered if there was something more that Letty wasn't telling her.

Letty could see the wheels turning in Mia's head. "It's late Mia. Don't hurt yourself trying to figure out your brother and the reasons why he does the things he does. I have." Letty got up and stretched. "I should check up on Zan."

Mia picked up the mug. "Hey, Let."

Letty stopped at the steps. "He's really beautiful."

Letty smiled "He's the one good thing Dom and I did right." With that Letty climbed up the stairs. It felt strange to be in this house again. Mia hadn't changed much in the house over the years. She noticed that the door that lead to hers and Dom's room was open. On the bed Zan was sprawled out face plastered in the pillow. He sleeps like Dom, flat on his belly. She can never figure out how they breath with their faces in the pillow. It freaked her out when her and Dom first got together how he slept. But soon she made it enjoyable.

_Letty pulled the cover back slowly to relieve Dom's smooth ass. The man hated pajamas, not that she minded. His lack of clothing made things more interesting for her. She raised her hand high in the air and swung it down slapping him on the ass. It left a Letty size hand print on his left butt cheek. _

"_Jesus, Let!" Dom yelp flipping over. Letty couldn't help but laugh. Dom pulled the covers over his exposed front. "You know there are better ways to wake a man up."_

"_But, I like my way" She replied with an evil smile._

_He jumped out the bed pulling her on top of him. Letty smiled kissing him. _

Letty pulled off Zan's shoes tossing them aside. She went into the out hallway closet and got some clean linen. She threw a blanket over him. She then followed him into sleep. It felt good coming home.

Letty woke up early as she was prone to do. It was one of her vices that Dom hated. If you could call waking up early a vice. Runner was still in the same spot on the lazy boy. She snapped her fingers and the dog lifted his head. He hopped off the bed and gave her a quick nuzzle. Letty let him out in the backyard. She slowly made her way to the garage. The first thing she noticed was the large lump in the middle of the garage. She pulled off the sheet and the charger sat a mangled mess. She ran her fingers through her hair. "Damn." Dom told her he crashed the charger, but this heap of metal before her was a crime against nature. She ran her fingers over the body of the car, the metal was cool.

"That thing is a goddamn curse." Mia said leaning against the door.

Letty shook her head. "Nah, Mia. It's a thing of beauty." She looked up at the other girl. "You kept it?"

Mia moved in more. "I wanted to junk it, but it's the only thing I got left." She said sadly. Mia sat down on a stool and just watched Letty stare at the car. 

"I would spend hours watching Dom and your Dad fix this thing." She leaned against the car and sighed. She remembered the days she would sit and watch Dom and his day work on the car. Every once in a while they would ask her to hand them something, which she did gladly. She loved to watch them work on that car. It was like seeing an artist paint or a musician play the piano.

They were both silent for a while in their own world remembering those days when things were simple.

"I thought I take Zan to go see your folks and Jesse. Then maybe drive up to Chino to see Abuelita and my crazy cousins."

Mia nodded. "Ok." She got up to head into the house. "You want breakfast?"

"You cooking? Cause breakfast in my house consist of cereal and toast."

Zan woke up not sure of where he was. He looked around and remembered that he was in L.A. at his Dad and Mom's old house. He walked down stairs and heard a commotion in the kitchen.

"Mom?" He called out.

"She's outside." Mia replied from the kitchen.

Zan looked around trying to gain his barrings. The house looked much different in the sunlight. He noticed more picture of his Dad when he was a kid, his Mom in really tight clothing, and the same guys in the photo upstairs.

"You hungry?" Mia asked wiping her hands on a rag. "I wasn't sure what you liked, so I cooked a little of everything."

"Who are these guys?" He asked pointing at a picture.

Mia took the picture down from the mantel. She smiled as she rubbed her fingers softly on the frame. "They're the Team." She said proudly.

"Team?"

"This guy is Vince. He and your Dad were friends since the third grade. Jesse and Leon here, and they just showed up one day and never left."

"That's Vincent?" He pointed to the big burly man in the picture. This was the great and mighty Vince. His parents didn't talk much about their past. Vince was another name that came up in his parents conversations. But they never argued when they talked about Vince. Instead they were always sad when his name came up. Especially his Dad.

Mia nodded. "Yep, that's old Coyote." She put the picture back on the mantel. "Your parents didn't tell you about the old team?" She asked confused.

"No they don't talk much about the 'old times'" he put up air quotes. "They just told me that I got my name from a old friend of my Dad. They didn't really talk about you much either."

Mia looked hurt. "Really?"

"Only when they were arguing." He looked down at his bare feet. "They didn't know I was listening. Mom always wanted to talk to you. Dad wouldn't let her. Told her it was a bad idea. That would put all in danger. He said that a lot."

"Say what?"

"It's a bad idea. We shouldn't do that do this. Like he was scared or something." Zan was getting angry. His Dad didn't like them doing too much that didn't require his supervision. He didn't even want him to go to school or make friends. His Mom had fought for that.

"Sounds like Dom." Mia wrapped her arm around the boy. "Come on, food getting cold."

His eyes got three sizes big when he saw the spread Mia had put out. "You cook all this?"

Mia laughed. "Yeah. Sit down."

Zan did as he was told. He piled eggs, bacon, and fried potatoes on his plate. Then he carefully separated his food so that it wouldn't touch. After he was happy with the position of his food he said grace and ate. "Did my Mom eat?"

"Not yet. I'll go get her."

"What she doing?" He asked with a mouth full of food.

"She probably underneath the charger."

He swallowed. "Charger?" He hopped up out his chair. "The one my Dad and his Dad built?"

"So your Dad told you about the Charger, but not about me." She huffed.

Zan grinned. His face was greasy from the food. "Yeah, we were supposed to build a car together. But, he left before we got a chance."

Mia kissed the top of his head. "I'm sure Letty will let you help, fix it now."

Letty was sitting in the driver's side of the Charger trying to figure out her next steps. She need to get in touch with Brian and figure out a way to clear Dom's name. She knew the only way that Dom was coming back to her and their son is if his name was clear. Then he could face his demons and make atonement. The only thing she need to do this without Mia finding out. Mia always had a way of figuring things out. Letty smiled when she saw Zan standing in the door with his mouth wide open.

"Hey kiddo."

He hesitantly walked towards the car. Like Letty he ran his fingers across the car. "It looks sad, Mom."

"Nothing I can't fix. The engine still in tact. Just needs some body work, paint and some TLC and it'll be purring like a kitten."

Mia wanted to argue. To tell Letty to forget about it. But the look on their faces was priceless. And as long as they we're working on the car, then at least she would have them close.


	4. Chapter 4

Mia drove them to the cemetery. It was a pretty quiet ride. She figured Letty felt guilty for not being there for Jesse. The two of them were peas on a pod, as Dom liked to call them. Jesse was the only member of the team that wasn't originally brought in by Dom. Letty brought Jesse in, or rather her boobs did. The kid had something bad for Letty in the beginning. It was probably because she was the only person to give the kid the time of day.

"_V, it's still dragging." Letty said angrily as she slammed her car door shut. Dom got out his car and rubbed his head. It was going to be one of those nights._

_Vince now stood looking over Letty's engine scratching his head. "Letty I don't know what to tell you." He told the angry brunette._

_He fiddle with some wires, the car started to make a hissing noise. She pushed him. Dom noticed a small kid nervously pacing close to them. He had seen the kid before at the races. He never raced just paced nervously always by Letty. Normally the jealous side would get the best of him but there was nothing threating about this boy. He thought that it was cute the way the boy hovered around Letty. _

_Vince and Letty continued arguing what would be the best way to fix her car. Neither of them asked Dom's opinion on the matter. Because they both knew his answer, trash it. _

_Finally the boy stopped pacing. He went over to Letty's and started to fix things. Letty and Vince stood and watched as the boy violated her car. Vince's fist started to clenched and he had his kicking ass face on. Letty turned to Dom looking for him to do something. Dom just stood there thinking that the night just got a little more interesting. _

"_That should work." The boy stuttered out. He stood back and admired his work._

_Vince's fist unclenched and he took at look at the boy's masterpiece. "Let, take a look at this." _

_Dom's curiosity peeked he had to see the work had rendered Vince speechless and caused a huge smile on Letty's face._

_The trio stood over Letty's car and it was a masterpiece what the nervous sweaty boy did to her car. The hissing had stop. Dom got into the car. "Let's see if the wizard is worthy." He said to the boy who was now nervously biting his nails. _

_Letty stood by the boy and all his nervous attention turned to her chest. This wasn't lost on Dom or Vince. Vince grinned and got into the passenger side. "I think our boy has a crush on Letty." Vince told Dom with a mischievous grin. Dom didn't respond just started the car._

"_I'm Jesse." The boy said extending his hand to Letty._

_She took it. "Letty." The were silent for a moment before Letty spoke again. "So what you ate your Wheaties this morning?" She asked with a wicked grin._

_Jesse cheeks flushed. Letty spoke again. "How come it took you so long to talk to me. Afraid I would bite."_

_Jesse stuffed his hands in his pockets. "A bit."_

_Letty laughed. "I don't bite." She paused a moment. "only if provoked."_

_Jesse laughed easing up a some. "And your boyfriend kinda scary."_

_She turned to him. "Dom's a big pussy." They both laughed._

Mia lead Letty and Zan to the Toretto family plot. Zan trailed slowly behind his mother. "It was a real nice service. Jesse's father was able to get out to come the funeral. Hector, Harry, and Edwin came too." Mia told Letty. She topped in front of the plot.

Letty bent down and touched the cold granite. "Did he suffer?"

"I don't think so. It all happened so quick." She replied solemnly.

Letty waived Zan over. The boy squatted by his mother taking her hand. She took a good long sigh. She didn't want to cry so she pushed the large lump that was forming in the back of her neck. "Jesse was the wizard. Smart as shit."

"He was part of your team?"

"Yeah kiddo he was the heart."

They drove back to the house just as they came. "I guess we can clean out Jesse room so Zan can have it." Mia told Letty as they walked into the house. Runner greeted them at the door.

"Zan take Runner out then feed him." Letty order.

Letty fell on the couch. She propped up her feet on the coffee table. Mia swatted them off and joined Letty on the couch. "I had to sell the store and the garage. It all got to be too much." Mia confessed.

"Mia you don't have to apologize for surviving. You did what you thought was right." Letty laid her head on Mia's shoulder. "You kept the charger. That's enough."

Mia smiled. "So you really gonna fix it up? Let, it a lost cause."

Letty laughed. "You sound like Dom. Remember when Brian brought in that 10 second car?" Letty knew that was a sore spot for Mia but she had to get more information about him. She wasn't even sure what his real name was.

"Yeah that was a real POS, huh?"

"What's a POS?" Zan asked. Runner hopped up on the lazy boy.

The woman laughed. Zan just shook his head. He hated when adults did that no let him on the joke.

After dinner Letty read to Zan and put him to bed. Then she joined Mia in clearing out Jesse's old room.

"God, Jesse had a lot of porn." Mia chucked another magazine in a garbage bag.

Letty laughed. "The boy did love breast. He couldn't keep his eyes off mine."

They worked in relative silence for a while. Letty still needed to get more information about Brian from Mia.

"So did you ever hear from Brian after everything went down."

Mia stood up and wiped her brow. "He called a couple of times... I'm going to trash these bags and get something to drink. You want anything?"

"Whatever's cold and wet."

Letty leaned against the bed on the floor. She pulled her knees to her chest burying her head between them. She was tired. Finally she had her feet on solid ground here with Mia, but things still didn't feel right. She missed Dom and she didn't want to. She tried to forget him but she had a 4'11 reminder that they were tethered together. And no matter how far they were apart he had a piece of her.

"Mom?"

Letty looked up and couldn't help but smile because the best part of Dominic Toretto stood in front of her. "What's up kiddo had a bad dream?"

The boy nodded. "Can you rub my back?"

Letty got up and took Zan's hand and led him back to their room. "Get back in." He complied, she pulled the covers back over him.

"Did I ever tell you the first time I meet your Dad?" She got in the bed beside him.

"No."

Letty rubbed her hand in a circle around her son's back. "I was 13 and we had just buried my father. And I was really sad. I just moved to L.A. and living with people I really didn't know. I decided to take a walk in the cemetery."

Zan looked at her. "Weren't you scared? Cemeteries creep me out."

She laughed. "No, just sad."

_After the parade of well wishers Letty decided that she wanted to be alone for a while. She told her cousin that she was going for a walk. She strolled down the aisles of graves trailing her fingers along the tombstones. She stopped occasionally to read the graves. She became fascinated on finding graves with children her own age. So far she had found two graves belonging to a boy and girl. "James Taylor Lee: Brother, Son, Angel August 5, 1967- May 1, 1975" the boy's grave read. The girl's was more recent she had only died a year ago. "Marsol Renee Jenkins: Gone but never forgotten November 12, 1977- December 3, 1990." Letty continued her quest to find the graves of 13 year olds. After a while of walking she realized that she was lost. The cemetery was much larger than she expected. She had no idea where she was. Her Dad used to tell her when she was little if she got lost stay put, he'll find her it's easier to find a stationary target than a mobile one. So she sat by "Gregory Fisher Lowe: Fishing in Heaven"'s grave waiting for someone to find her._

"_Hey." Someone was shaking her. "Wake up." A deep voice told her._

_She arose slowly stretching. "Did I fall asleep?" _

_The figure standing over her laughed. It was one of the deepest laughs she ever heard. "Yeah, everyone's been looking for you."_

_He helped her up. "You shouldn't go wondering off in the dark in a cemetery alone you know, there's zombies out here."_

_Letty laughed. "It wasn't dark when I started. And zombies really? I'm thirteen not three." She retorted back._

"_Fair enough. But seriously your Grandma has been going nuts."_

_Letty sighed. "I didn't mean to scare anyone. I just needed..."_

"_Some time alone." He finished her sentence. "I know what you mean. When my Mom died all I wanted was to follow the white rabbit and get lost."_

_Letty arched her eyebrow. "White rabbit?" She questioned._

_Again he smirked. "You know the white rabbit? I'm late, I'm late for a very important date, no time to say hello go by, I'm late, I'm late, I'm late white rabbit." He sang. _

_Letty looked confused._

"_They didn't have Alice in Wonderland where you from?"_

_Again Letty was lost. _

"_The 1951 Disney classic. 'Off with their heads!'." He explained. Letty still had a blank expression on her face. "Lewis Carrol's Children's story." He sighed. "Wow I haven't meet any girl that hasn't seen or even heard of Alice in Wonderland before."_

_Letty smiled. "I'm not your typical girl." she replied with a grin._

_She shivered in the spring night air. He took off his jacket and wrapped it around her. It totally engulfed her small frame. "I'm Dom by the way."_

"_Letty."_

"_Nice to meet you Letty."_

Letty looked up and saw Mia standing at the door. "You crying?"

Mia wiped her face. "No. It's just sweet is all."


	5. Chapter 5

The two woman finished up clearing the floor of Jesse's room. They agreed that they would pick out furniture later. Letty had managed to get Brian's real last name out of her now all Letty had to do was walk up to the FBI building and asked if she could talk to Brian O' Conner, tell him it's Letty. He would know who she was, Dom's ex that he hijacked trucks with. She was sure that things were going to run smoothly.

The better part of the morning was spent at Letty's Abuelita's house. Her family couldn't get enough of Zan. He was eating it up. She decided to let Zan stay the night so that he could get acquainted with her family. He was hesitant at first staying with strangers, but Letty reassured him that she was just a call away and she be there to get him if she wanted. But she had other plans for the next day. Mia had decided that she had to get back to work. So this was Letty chance to go see Brian.

Letty awoke with knots in her stomach. She hadn't felt like this since the first time she raced. She didn't do nervous and sweaty.

_Letty's stomach was doing flips. After weeks of driving with Dom he finally felt she was ready to go at it alone. He wasn't to thrilled about the idea of her racing, but she talked him into to it._

"_Ready for this?" Dom leaned into her car._

_Letty took in a deep breath. "Yeah."She kept her eyes fixated on the path ahead of her._

"_Yeah? Yeah. you don't sound to confident about this. Letty I need you to tell me that you're ready for this. This shit is dangerous. It's not like the video games, you crash you don't get a do over."_

_She gripped the steering wheel tighter keeping her focus._

"_Letty!" Dom snapped. He pulled her face to look at him. "I need you to tell me you got this."_

"_I got this." She told him._

_Dom smiled and kissed her on the forehead. "That's my girl."_

_She took another breath held it then let it go. She had this. _

She stood in front of the glass tower that was the FBI building. Her mind was telling her to move forward, but her feet stood plastered where she stood. But fate was smiling on her that day, because walking towards her with a coffee in hand was the blond she needed to see.

"Brian." She called out.

***

After his stint in Miami Brian made his move back to L.A. It wasn't an easy transition for him. People talked about the "one that got away." But he was trying to redeem himself start new with the FBI. They were working a tough case. A drug cartel leader Arturo Braga had a long list of horrible deeds and even longer list of dead bodies including some FBI agents.

"Philips was found three miles away from _Mexicali_ with a bullet to the head. That's the third agent that has died in the past two years, people. We need someone how can get in infiltrate Braga's organization without getting compromised." Agent Stasiak looked directly at Brian when he said the last part.

Brian leaned over to the small agent next to him and whispered. "Do you think he was referring to me when he said the last part?"

The agent laughed choking on her coffee.

"Something funny Agent Trinh? Care to share with the rest of the class?"

The female agent shook her head. "No."

Brian stood up. "Look we know that Braga has connections to the street racing world... That's where the problem is..."

"The problem?" Stasiak repeated. "Please continue." He leaned against the table in the room with his arms crossed.

"Underground street racing is a tight knit community. They can spot a poser from a mile away... We need someone already in the community and flip them."

Stasiak chuckled. "Like you O' Conner? Maybe Braga has a pretty sister that you can..." Before the agent can get the last words out his face is introduced to Brian's fist.

"O' Conner, Stasiak break it up." A giant black agent came into the room. "Trinh take O' Conner to cool off."

"Yes, Sir." Trinh grabbed Brian by the arm and dragged him out the room. He brushed her off. "Fuck!" he yelled kicking the wall in front of the elevator.

Trinh huffed. "Feel better?" She pushed the elevator button.

Brian looked at her. "A little." He smiled.

"Good. Cause there's a new coffee shop down the street that I've been dying to try."

Brian walked along Trinh back to headquarters she was going on with something but he wasn't paying attention. One of his reason for wanting to come back to L.A. was to try to make things right with Mia. He called a few times and even stopped by the house, but she wanted nothing to do with him. Brian noticed a familiar figure standing in front of the building, but he knew that it couldn't be who he thought it was. It wasn't until she called his name.

"Brian?"

He walked up to the woman. Brian couldn't help but stare, she looked good. Trinh cleared her throat. "Hey um..." Brian stuttered out.

"Christina." Letty said with a smile. "I just got back and I thought I would look you up?" Letty with a saccharine voice.

Trinh laughed. "I'm going to head up, O' Conner. Nice meeting you."

Brian waited until Trinh was out of site before grabbing Letty by the arm and dragging her down the street.

"Are you out of you mind coming back here?" He looked around nervously. "Is Dom here?"

Letty planted her feet down stopping him. "Calm down."

He looked at her like she was crazy. "Letty, you're still wanted for questioning about the hijacking the statue of limitations isn't up. You could go to jail."

She stood her ground. "Tell me something. Why you let him go?"

"What? You came all the way here to ask me why I let Dom go?"

She nodded. "Yes and I need you to clear his name."

Letty and Brian sat across each other in a coffee shop. They hadn't said anything to each other too busy sizing each other up. Letty did have a way of commanding attention, after all she got Dom.

_Brian and Dom sat at the road side Diner enjoying their shrimp baskets. He had finally got Dom to trust him enough to let him in on Race Wars. He was sure that Dom wasn't part of the hijacking he didn't fit the profile. The other members on his team however, so Brian decided to pump Dom about the other members. "So how long have you and Letty been together?" Brian popped another shrimp in his mouth._

"_Change of interest?" Dom asked with a raised eyebrow._

_Brian put his hands up."No, it's just you guys got something good is all."_

_Dom wiped his hands on a napkin then tossed it aside. He eyed Brian before he spoke. "I was sixteen she was thirteen when I meet her. She moved down the street from my house. She was this scrawny little thing, but the girl could rip apart an engine block and put it back together faster than I could blink. We were friends for a while. When my Dad died and I went away that I really started to see her as maybe more. She stuck by Mia throughout it all. The first couple of months I refused to see my sister. Then I got this letter from Letty. She told me to stop being a pussy..." Dom had to stop his story to wait until Brian stopped laughing. _

"_Sorry man." Brian said with his heads in the air. "You were saying you were being a pussy."_

_Dom continued. "She said that I need to stop being a selfish prick and realize that Mia had lost her father too and me. And I needed to grow a pair. She told me I was lucky. I had a people who loved me waiting for me when I got out. Most people didn't have that and that I would realize that if I got my head out my ass."_

"_Did you?"Brian paused for a moment. "Get your head out your ass."_

"_Yeah and I saw Mia once a week until I got out."_

_Brian nodded. "So after Lompoc you two hooked up?"_

"_No. Letty was doing her thing and I had to make up for lost time you know. We hooked up a couple of times nothing serious."_

"_Friends with benefits?"_

"_Something like that. It was a year later we were in the shop and I was having one of those shitty days. I had this car and for the life of me I couldn't get it started and the owner was coming to pick it up in an hour. Then Letty sauntered in with this grin on her face, telling me let a real mechanic handle it. She looks under the hood for a second, then she gets in the car starts tinkering around...she goes in the back and gets a gas can..."_

_Brian freezes. "Wait the car didn't have gas?"_

_Dom laughed. "Yeah the gas gage was broken. She figured it out in like five minutes and had this huge smile on her face. I knew then I was hooked."_

_Brian nodded he got it. "I see the ways the girls flock to you at the races. Tell me your never tempted."_

"_No, never." Dom replied without blinking._

"Was it because of Mia?" Letty asked. They had been sitting in the coffee shop for 10 minutes without saying anything. Each waiting for the other to speak. So Letty decided that she would take the bull by the horns.

"Partly. I didn't expect to fall for her, you know. But I fell for the rest of you guys too. Even Vince." Brian confessed. He hadn't told anyone this. His reason for letting Dominic Toretto go. He came up with this excuse that Dom got away, he was too good.

"We do that that effect on people." Letty added to lighten the mood. She was quiet for a moment thinking of the right way to approach him. But the only way she could think of was to be blunt. "I need your help. Dom needs to come home..."

"Letty I don't know what you want me to do?"

She licked her lips and sighed. "He needs to stop running." Letty pulled out a picture of Zan. "This is the reason why Dom needs to come home." She stood up and took a pen out her pocket writing on the back of the picture. "This is the number where I can be reached. Call me when you're ready to help." She turned to leave.

"What's his name?"

"Zan."


	6. Chapter 6

Brian sat at his desk staring at the picture of Dom and Letty's son trying to think of a way to help. He practically gave up his career when he handed Dom those keys. What else did she expect from him. "God help those who help themselves" his Grandmother used to tell him. The more he stared the more the kid's eyes hunted him. He had Letty's eyes, the type of eyes that could see through all the bullshit and get to the heart of a person. Brian wondered what the hell did Letty see in him.

Letty had picked up Zan from her Abuelita's house and met up with Mia at Bed Bath and Beyond.

"Where did you go?" Zan asked.

Letty picked up a soccer themed trash can. "I was looking for a job. You like this one?"

The boy made a face. "I don't like soccer."

She put the trash can down. "We should find you Aunt Mia she probably have bought the whole store."

The duo walked towards the front of the store.

"So how did you like your Great Grandmother?" She asked her son.

"She kept trying to make me eat. She kept saying Nada pero piel y huesos! Demasiado flaco! And stuffing food on my plate."

Letty bust out laughing. "Yeah if she had her way I would have been 200 lbs in high school. Women loves to feed her family." Letty wrapped her arm around her son. "What do you think about your Aunt Mia?"

Zan smiled. He loved his Aunt she was pretty awesome. "I like her a lot. Are we going be living with her?"

"I don't think Mia wouldn't have it any other way."

"How come Dad didn't want me to know her? She seemed kinda sad when I told her he didn't talk about her much."

Letty tilted her head to the side trying to think of the right words. "It wasn't that he didn't want you to know about her. It was hard for him you know. Mia and your Dad were close. It was kind of disgusting sometimes how your Dad doted on his sister."

Zan laughed. "Really?"

She nodded. "You think your Dad was strict with you. If he had his way Mia would be a Nun even then she probably couldn't marry God until she was 50."

Zan stopped. "Mom."

"Yeah, kiddo?"

"Would you be mad if I missed Dad?"

Letty looked at her son. "Why would I be mad? His your father nothing will change that."

Zan sighed. "I want to be mad at him. For leaving us and for making Aunt Mia sad. But I miss him too."

Letty kissed Zan on the top of the head. "I get mad at your Dad too sometimes. Then I remember the reason why I love him so much."

"Why?"

Letty gave Zan a zerbet on his cheek. "You kiddo."

The boy wiped his face. "Gross, Mom."

Sure enough Mia was in the front of store with several carts full of stuff. "Leave anything in the store?" Letty asked evaluating Mia's choices.

"I haven't bought anything new for the house for a while." Several items fell out the cart. She went to pick it up. "I guess I went a little overboard."

After what seemed like hours they managed to get all the items in the house. Zan went straight up to the now porn free room and started fixing things the way he wanted. Letty was out side setting up Runner's dog house that Mia insisted on buying. Mia was in the kitchen fixing dinner when her cell phone rang.

"Hey Mia."

"Dom?" She whispered. She peaked her head out to see if Zan or Letty was around before she spoke. "Where are you?"

"Good to hear from you too, Sis."

She stopped cooking and leaned against the counter. "I was worried haven't heard from you in a while."

"Sorry about that. Things are a little crazy right now. But how are you? Still working the late shift."

Mia switched ears. She couldn't believe that Dom was acting all nonchalant like he hadn't called in a couple of days. "Dom I gotta..."

"Hey Mia, I gotta run to the store and get more nails." Letty said. She grabbed a bottle water out the frig. Mia jumped when she heard Letty voice. "You ok girl?" Letty asked with a confused look.

Mia had her cell behind her behind her back. She gave Letty a nervous smile. "You scared me. Letty you're like a ninja sometimes."  
"Right. So you want anything while I'm out?"

"No, I'm good."

Mia waited until she heard the door shut before she spoke to her brother again.

"Mia." Dom kept calling.

"Yeah I'm here."

There was a pregnant pause. "Was that Letty, Mia?" Dom asked. Mia was quiet she didn't know how to answer. "Mia was that Letty?" He asked again.

"Yeah, she showed up a couple of weeks ago with Zan."

She heard a sigh a relief from her brother over the phone. "They ok?"

"You know, Letty she's the strong one, remember."

_It was a sunny Saturday afternoon at the races. Letty rolled her eyes at Dom's date of the day. Girl didn't have sense God gave a mountain goat, but she had DDs which was good enough for him. The girl was babbling about something about some soap opera. Letty had to laugh because Dom wasn't paying her any attention. His focus was on the track. She snaked her arm around him and stole some popcorn from his lap. He looked at with an accusatory face she just returned the look with a innocent smile as she pop the salty treat in her mouth. Then it happened it was like it wasn't real it was in a movie. Some guy clipped Dom's father sending him at 120 miles per hour into the jersey wall. All Letty could hear was the guttural screams from Dom. She tried to hold him but he broke from her. It took Vince and three other guys to hold him back. Letty just stood there frozen watching the flames engulf her pseudo father._

_Vince had to get Dom into the car Letty lead the way to the house. Mia opened the door, she had a scared look on her face. "V, take Dom upstairs." She said quietly. Letty took Mia's hand and lead her to the couch._

"_What happened?" Mia asked barely over a whisper. Letty didn't know what to say. She couldn't even form the words. "He's dead." So she pulled Mia closed and kissed her on the head. "He's gone Mi." She finally croaked out. The other girl cried into Letty's shoulder. Letty held her until Mia feel asleep in her arms. She moved slowly and laid Mia down on the couch. She threw the Afghan over Mia. Then she made the silent trek upstairs. Vince was in Dom's room asleep on the arm chair. He looked uncomfortable. Letty stretched her head back and saw Dom in his father's room. "V ." She whispered shaking him gently. "Get in the bed, V." He sleepily looked up and smiled. "In your dreams, lover boy." Vince made a slow crawl into Dom's bed. "Where's Dom?" He asked. _

"_His in his Dad room and Mia down stairs." She pulled the covers over him. He was out as soon as his head hit the pillow._

_Letty then turned her attention to Dom. She walked into the room closing the door behind her. Dom had his face in hands, he didn't look up when Letty walked in the room. "Dom." she whispered. _

_He looked up slightly he grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards him. He buried his face into her stomach and cried. She ran her fingers through his hair gently. Letty was a strong believer that actions speak louder than words. So she would do whatever Dom and Mia needed her to do. Finally Dom had cried all the tears that he could. She lifted his head so he could look at her. "Come on Papi, you should sleep." She slowly pulled off his shirt, then took off his shoes. She pulled the covers back. Dom slowly got in and Letty tucked him in. She was about to go to the door when Dom asked her to stay._

_Letty woke up in Dom's arms. She kissed him softly on the cheek and got up. She went to check on Vince who was still knocked out along with Mia. Letty wasn't much of a cook, but she had seen her Abuelita do it enough she knew could fumble her way through._

_The next few days everyone walked around like zombies. Letty made all the funeral arrangements. She did everything without questioned. She stood between Mia and Dom holding them both up as they lowered their father into the ground. Vince had to take Mia home and Letty stayed with Dom at the grave. He hadn't let go of her hand all day. They stood there until they begun pouring the dirt on the grave sealing Dom's father in. Letty shivered a bit, this slight movement broke him of his trance. He removed his his suit jacket and wrapped it around her._

"_We should go before the zombies come out?" She told him. Dom laughed it was a genuine sign of happiness. She took his hand again and they walked to the car together._

Letty started the engine of her car and pulled out her phone. "Brian, tell me you have something for me?"

"I can't promise you anything, Letty. But it's worth a shot."

"That's all a need. Meet me at the old grocery store."

Letty flipped her phone shut and drove away to meet Brian.

**Translations**

Nada pero piel y huesos. Demasiado flaco- Nothing but skin and bones. Too skinny.

* * *

**A/N**

Hey thanks sooo much for the reviews, it's pretty awesome to wake up and have reviews instead of spam in your inbox, so I've kind of hit writer's block, I think I have an end game for this but not sure how I want it all to play out. But I will guarantee Letty will not die. I'll be going back to work and school next week (boo) so updates won't be as speedy. I'll try not let this go to the waste side. Anywho thanks for the love.

Tonya :)


	7. Chapter 7

Brian pulled up to the old Toretto grocery store, but now stood a dingy looking bar. He walked in and scanned the bar, it was full of happy hour patrons. He decided to take a booth in the back and wait for Letty. He was there for only a couple of minutes before she walked in. Once again Brian had to notice how good she looked, time had did Letty good. He wondered how Mia looked had time been as good to her as it was to Letty. Letty slid into the booth.

"So what do you hear?" She asked.

Brian sighed. "So here's the deal. We've been trying to catch this guy Braga, he's a mystery no one knows who he is. He's linked to some major heavy stuff, drugs, guns, you name it Braga has his hand in it."  
Letty nodded. "Ok so where do I fit in."

"He also has his hand in underground street racing. In fact we believe that he uses street racers to traffic drugs from Mexico to the US. This is where you fit in Letty. We need you to become one of Braga's drivers. Become apart of the team gather as much info you can so we can build a case on him." Brian decided to leave out the part of the trail of street racers bodies that was also linked to him.

Letty leaned back into the booth. She hadn't raced since she gave birth to Zan. She didn't need the adrenaline rush after having him. Being a mother was enough for her. "So you want me to narc?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "I've talk to my superiors and they are willing to deal. I can't say that Dom won't do some time, but not as much he's facing now. They'll clear your record if cooperate. Give you a car and what ever you need to get the job done."

"What if I can't get close to this Braga guy?"

He clasped his hands together. "That hadn't crossed my mind. I know you can be pretty persuasive when you want to."

Letty thought a moment. "Ok. I'm in. But I get to pick the car."

Brian nodded. "Ok I'll talk to my superiors and make the arrangements." He got up to leave when she grabbed him.

"Oh I need a job too."

Brian laughed. "I'll see what I can do." He stood up and put his hand on the small of her back. "I'll walk you your car."

The duo walked out together. "So you seeing anyone?" Letty asked as Brian opened the door of the bar for her.

"Why you offering?"

"No I got my hands full with the little man. You know Mia a nurse now."

"Good. I'm glad. Where you going with this?"

She shrugged and leaned against her jeep. "I thought every man dreams of a sexy nurse to take his temperature, is all."

Brian almost fell over with laughter. He wasn't going to comment. He stepped back and noticed Letty's jeep. He laughed even harder. "Nice Mom car, Let. How fast that thing goes 60 in what 10 minutes."

"Fuck you O' Conner. Call me with the details." Letty slid into her car.

Brian still laughing watched Letty drive away.

It wasn't until Letty got to the house that she realized that she didn't have the nails. She didn't know how she was going to talk her way out of that one. It didn't matter anyway Runner wasn't going to stay in that thing. He was an indoor dog anyway. The beast jumped up to greet her when she got home. She shooed him away, he returned to his spot on the lazy boy. Mia and Zan were already at the dinner table eating. Mia gave her a suspicious eye.

"Got the nails?"

"Nope they we're all out." Letty kissed Zan on his head. "What's for dinner."

"Meatloaf." He said with his mouth full.

Letty cupped her ear. "Sorry I didn't hear you with your mouth full."

Zan laughed and swallowed. "Sorry, meatloaf."

Letty took a seat at the table. She could feel Mia's eyes burrowing into her. "Looks good Mi." She fixed her plate.

Zan could feel the tension between his Mom and Aunt Mia. They were "eye fighting". His parents did that a lot fought with their eyes when they were in front of him. When they thought he wasn't listening then the yelling would start.

"Mom when can I start school?" He asked hoping that this would distract them long enough.

Letty looked around. "I'm sorry, who are you and what did you do with my son?"

Mia and Zan laughed. "Getting bored hanging with your Aunt Mia all day?" Mia teased taking up the plates.

"No. I just want to start school."

"We can check it out tomorrow morning, kiddo. Go take your bath and get ready for bed. I'll be in a hour."

"Ok." Zan left the table.

Letty followed Mia into the kitchen with her dinner plate and some other dishes that were on the table. She placed them in the sink. She grabbed the dish towel and started drying the dishes. "So, how's Dom?" Letty asked.

Mia dropped the plate in the sink. "How'd you?"

"I know you is how. When I walked in you looked like a kid who just got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. You and your brother can't lie worth a shit." Letty took over washing the dishes. "Did he sound ok?"

Mia took Letty's place drying. "He sounded lonely."

They finished the dishes in silence.

Letty read and tucked in Zan in his newly decorated room. This was the first time that he would be sleeping in that room. Letty couldn't help feeling a little sad about that, but she knew that he had to grow up. She walked down stairs where Mia was reading. Runner was snoring on the lazy boy.

"He hasn't moved from that spot all night." Letty said grabbing her coat. "I'm going out for a bit."

"Letty?" Mia called.

"Yeah."

"Promise me something."

"What?"

"Don't go and do something stupid."  
Letty smiled mischievously. "I don't know what you mean?"

"I know you too, Letty... " Mia closed her book giving Letty her full attention. " And I know that you'll do anything for my brother... Ride or die isn't that what you guys always say to each other?"

"Yeah Mia. Ride or die."

"I've always hated when you guys said that. Why couldn't you two just say I love you like normal couples?"

Letty laughed. "Dom and me were never a normal couple."

"_Where you going?" Dom asked rolling on his back to following Letty as she got up. _

"_Out." She replied simply. She begun picking up her randomly scattered clothes and putting them back on._

_Dom looked at the clock it read 2:09AM. "Letty it's 2 in the morning, who you going out with?"_

_She sat back on the bed so she could put on her boot. "My boy Randle's cousin just opened this new club on Winchester. I told him I would check it out."_

_Dom sat up on his elbows. "At 2 in the fucking morning, Letty. Winchester is clear across town."_

"_Thanks 411 for the update." She snapped back._

_Dom got up and put on his boxers. "I can't keep doing this." _

_She looked up at him. "Do what?"_

"_This friends with benefits bullshit."_

_She slightly bit her bottom lip and shook her head. "I thought this would be a dream scenario for you all the fun without the relationship."She laced up her boots. "Fine Dom, whatever you want."_

_She stormed out the door._

"_Letty!" Dom called out. _

_She stood still at the top step._

_He ran his hand over his head. "I can't be just friends with you."_

_Letty threw her arms up in frustration. "Then what the fuck Dom?"_

_He stood frozen looking at her trying to figure out what to say. He had feelings for her, they had been there for a while, but he was to scared to vocalize them. She was a pretty hard to read sometimes. Just when Dom thought he figured her out she would go and do something to totally stump him. And that's why he loved her the fact that she made him work for it. "I love you." He finally said it. The three little words that could change their relationship forever. He walked over to her and cupped her face. "You and me. None of this other bullshit."_

_She was quiet for a moment then a big smile crept across her face. "You love me?"_

_Dom smiled, he grabbed her by the waist. "Yes, I love you." He kissed her again. "So you gonna stick with me?"_

_She bit her bottom lip. "I could be persuaded." He kissed her again._

"_How bout now?"_

"_Your chances are looking up."_

_He kissed the nape of her neck. "How bout now?"_

"_Hmm 50/50."_

_He growled picking her up he kept his focus on her. "I mean it you know. You're it for me."_

_She rubbed his head. "So, me and you?"_

_He laid her down on the bed kissing her. She stopped him. "Can me and you start tomorrow cause I really want to go to that club."_

"_Hell no." Dom kicked the door close. You could hear Mia squealing from her room._

Letty left Mia to her thoughts. She had more pressing things to handle. She had been out of the game for a while. She sounded sure when she told Brian that she was down for it, but in reality she was scared. She needed to swim in the baby pond for a while before she went into the deep in. She pulled up to a very familiar place. The Latin beats were reverberating from the streets as she pulled up to the Gato Negro. She had been out of the game for a while but Hector sure hadn't.


	8. Chapter 8

Letty walked into Hector's club and nothing had changed much there. There were still girls scantly clad dancing with men who were only interested in their cup size. She could feel the eyes of some of the men look at her, but she paid them no mind. Her was focus on one man in particular.

"Mis ojos han visto la gloria ? Letty is that you girl?" A short Hispanic man yelled from across the room.

Letty turned to see Hector standing with a girl in each arm smiling like an idiot. "Consiguió gordo ."

Hector laughed dismissing the girls and gave Letty a hug. "Naw girl just my pockets." He pulled her back to get a better look at her. "So how long has it been?"

"Eight years." She leaned into him so she didn't have to yell. "Is there somewhere we can talk?"

He smiled. "You just want to get me alone." He waived for her to follow. Hector took her into his back office. He offered her a chair.

"So what can I do for you Letty?"

She nervously rubbed the sweat off on her hands on her jeans. "I need to get back in the game." She told him simply.

Hector poured himself a glass of Patron. He tipped the glass to offer her some. She declined. "Eight years is a long time. Why all of sudden you want to hop back in the game. Thought all that shit that went down you'd wanna stay clear."

"I miss the rush."

Hector laughed slightly. "Tell you the truth I got out a few years back." He paused a moment to take a sip of Patron. "I got pinched did a year, nothing major. Now my nephew Remy runs things..." He took another sip. "Things changed since back in the day. Kids are running some major shit now." Hector warned.

"I can handle it." She snapped.

He put his hands up defensively. "Alright Mami, just don't come to me with your panties in a bunch when these kids hand you your ass."

Hector scribbled down a number and handed it to her. "This is Remy's number. He'll take care you you."

"Thanks man."

Before Letty returned home she made sure that she picked up the nails for Runner's dog house, not like the dog was ever going to move from the lazy boy. She was about to get in the shower when her phone rang, it was Brian.

"Hey met me at Harry's tomorrow at 1." Was all he said before hanging up the phone.

"Great talk." She replied to phone throwing it on the bed.

When she got out the shower she found Zan sleep in her bed. She scooted him over to make room.

"Mom?" The groggy boy called.

"What's up kiddo?"

"Nothing I just wanted to know you were there." He said before going back to sleep.

Zan woke up and found his mother gone. He went downstairs but the house was empty. He found her under the hood of the Charger and Runner happily chewing on a bone.

"Morning, Mom." He sat down on the floor next to Runner rubbing the dog's ear.

"Hey. Thought you were going to sleep in your room."

"I was, then I missed you."

"You missed me?" She wiped her hands on a rag to look at her son.

"Yeah, I woke up and you weren't there. I got scared."

Letty looked at her son with concerned. She had found him sleeping in her bed the past several nights. Zan was like his parents in that he didn't wear his emotions on his sleeve. He compartmentalized things, bottling them up. He couldn't tell his mother that he was afraid that he would wake up one morning and find her gone. He needed the comfort of her nearby.

He picked at the dog not wanting to meet her eyes. "Why did you get scared?" Letty asked.

"I thought you left."

"Why would you think that?"

He shrugged. "I dunno. You woke up and Dad was gone." He was on the verge of tears. Letty bent down so she was eye level to her son.

"I'll make a deal with you. I promise to always be there when you wake up in the morning ok?"

He perked up a little. "Every morning?"

"Yep."

"Well what if I'm staying at a friend's house or something?"

"Tell you what, We can get you a cell phone so if you're at a friends house or just down the street you can call me whenever you want, ok?"

"Sweet." Zan smiled.

Letty lifted up. "Come on let's get dressed. We got to get you enrolled in school today."

Mother and son walked hand and hand in Elysian Heights Elementary School. Zan squeezed Letty's hand tighter when they walked into the doors. He looked around the pristine school with wide eyes. This school was much bigger than his school back in the D.R.

"Did Dad and Aunt Mia go here?"

"Yep."

"So this place is pretty old huh?"

Letty kicked him in the back of the leg playfully. "Not that old."

An older women with her hair in a neat tight bun approached them. "You're Ms. Ortiz correct?"

Zan laughed not many people called his Mom "Ms. Oritz". Letty gave him a look. "Yes."  
"Good, I'm Mrs. Besh I'm the assistant principal here at Elysian Heights. Come and follow me."

The duo followed Mrs. Besh into her office. Zan couldn't help notice that she had a bunch of cat posters in her office. It reminded him of Dolores Umbridge's office in Harry Potter. He just hoped that that the cats wouldn't come alive.

"So Zan, tell me about yourself." Mrs. Besh asked.

"Um ...I'm 8 but my birthday is in two weeks and I like surfing with my Mom and muscle cars and I have a dog named Runner."

"Well that's interesting. I don't think we have too many surfers who like muscle cars here at E.H." Mrs. Besh looked down at her files on Zan. "Well we're going to have to test him to see what level he is before we integrate him in classes. Also, I see he isn't up to date on his shots. He's going to have to get those taken care of before we enroll him." Mrs. Besh looked up at Letty. "Also Ms. Ortiz we here at E.H. have a very active PTA. They meet once every third Tuesday in the auditorium." Mrs. Besh continued on about the rules and what was expected of Zan entering in the school.

After what seemed like an eternity for Letty Mrs. Besh was done with them. Letty practically dragged Zan out of school and into the car. She forgot how much she hated school. Their next stop was Mia's hospital so Zan could get his shots.

Mia had been working at Echo Park Hospital for a couple of years. She liked nursing. She figured after spending years mending the teams cuts, burns, and busies, nursing would be a breeze. Letty couldn't help but smile seeing Mia in her element the girl had skills.

"Hey guys." Mia lead them back to the curtains. "So, Dr. Harris is going to look after Zan."

"Is he scary?" Zan asked.

"No, he's a really good doctor." Mia ruffled his hair.

Letty looked at her watch it was almost 1 and she had to meet Brian at Harry's. "Hey Mia you mind watching Zan for awhile. I have a job interview."

But before Mia could answer or Zan to protest Letty was out the door.

Letty pulled up to Harry's and saw Brian standing outside of the door sipping on big gulp. Harry's hadn't changed much, but he added a garage to the side of the store. Brian saw her approaching and ditched his drink and opened the door for her.

"Letty! It's good to see you." Harry bustled over taking her into an embraced. "When Brian said that you need a job..." Harry air quoted the word job. "I was more than happy to help out. Even if this is fake you got more car knowledge in your pinky toe than most have in their brain." Letty couldn't help but note that he was still a nervous little man.

"Yeah thanks." She replied absently. Letty took a look around the Racer's Edge one thing she could say was that Harry kept up date on the ins and outs of the car world. "I like what you did with the place." She told him admiring the modifications he had made.

Brian took the by the shoulder and lead her into storage room which served as his bedroom when he was undercover. He sat down on the twin size bed and patted the bed for her to join him. He pulled out the laptop that was lying on the bed beside him. "These are the cars for you to choose from."

Letty took the laptop and clicked through the cars. They were nice, top of the line but not for her. "Where'd you get these bottom of a cereal box?" She said.

Brian made a face. "What are you talking about? Letty that's a Toyota Supra Turbo .." He clicked a couple of cars. "Mitsubishi Eclipse GT... I know with your skills.." He shook his head in disbelief. "Letty cereal box?"

She laughed. "I'm a big girl now, Brian and I need a grown up car."

He sat and scratch his head. "Ok, so what type of car do you want?"

_Zan woke up in his car seat in the backseat he looked out the window not sure of where he was. "Daddy." He called out. _

"_Shhh... Mommy sleeping." Dom looked back at his son. "What's up." He whispered._

_Zan smiled widely. "Can I drive?"_

_Dom looked over to the sleeping Letty. The last time Dom had let Zan "drive" Letty had gotten upset. She didn't like the idea of him being out of his car seat. Dom carefully observed her and could tell she wasn't waking up anytime soon._

"_Sure, unhook yourself and climb up." He told him. Dom kept a watchful eye on Zan and the road as the boy climbed to the front with him. "Careful don't wake, Mommy."_

"_K." Zan positioned himself on Dom's lap. _

"_Alright take the wheel." Dom guided his large hands over the small Zan's. The boy's face lit up sitting on his father's lap driving the car._

"_Daddy go faster!" He demanded. Dom couldn't help but obliged. Zan squealed in delight as the car accelerated. "Shh your gonna wake Mommy." He said laughing._

"_To late." Letty replied groggily. She should have been pissed that Zan was out of his car seat, but she couldn't help smile at the look on the little boy's face driving. He had a steal focus on the road, much like Dom when he was racing._

_Dom leaned over and kissed Letty. "Sorry."_

"_Whatever, just pull over I'm hungry."_

"_Daddy what kind of car do you like?" Zan asked sipping on his drink happily. They were parked outside some roadside dinner in the Dominican Republic. Dom smirked as he looked at Letty. "I admire any car with a good body, regardless of the make." He said in a sultry tone indicated at the woman across from him._

_Letty rolled her eyes, arched her eyebrows. "Daddy likes toy cars with big headlights." She told Zan._

_Dom let out hearty laugh. The boy made a face he didn't get the joke. "Mommy what kind of car you like?"_

_Dom spoke up before Letty had a chance. "Your Mommy is into muscle cars."_

"_Like the Grand National?" Zan replied pridefully. He knew his cars. _

_Dom nodded kissing his son on the top of the head. "Yep, like the Grand National."_

"_How come?" _

_Letty put down the greasy taco. "I've got some of my best memories around them. My dad had this blue GTO with a white racing stripe down the middle that he was always working on. Sometimes he would let me help. He taught me to drive in that car. We spend the day driving down the __Pali Highway. I had my first kiss in a Camero. I lost my..." Letty stopped almost forgetting she was talking to her 4 year son._

"_Lost what Mommy?" Zan asked innocently._

"_Yeah lost what Mommy?" Dom asked with a devilish grin._

_Letty threw taco meat at Dom, but he dodged it. "Nothing." She rolled her eyes. "I've never had a muscle car to let me down."_

_They finished eating and continued down the road. Zan was fast asleep when Dom spoke. "Didn't your grandma catch you in the backseat of your Uncle's Firebird doing nothing?"_

_Letty punched him in the arm._

Letty closed the laptop. "I need American muscle."

* * *

**Translations**

Mis ojos han visto la gloria- My eyes have seen the glory

consiguió gordo- You got fat


	9. Chapter 9

Even though everything seemed to be falling into place Letty knew that the other shoe would drop anytime soon. That was the way her life has always been. It would be good, even great at times then the shoe would drop and her life would turn to shit. Brian was making the arrangements for the car and parts that she needed. Harry had agreed to be her work cover. He even agreed to give her some garage space so she could work on the car. Zan had started school and was making friends. He was like his father that way, gravity. Mia had grown less suspicious of her which was a godsend because Letty was about to get waste deep into working undercover for the FBI. But she couldn't worry about any of that now she was too busy planning for Zan's birthday. Mia had decided to have a barbecue at the house and invite the neighborhood kids and her family over.

"Mia! Where do you want these?" Letty busted in the house with bags in tow with party favors.

"Anywhere." She shouted from the kitchen. "Did you get the steaks?"

Letty huffed. "I thought you just doing burgers and hot dogs?" She leaned against the door frame of the kitchen dropping the bags.

"Burgers and dogs for the kids. I can't see your Abuelita eating a dog, Let."

"You know you don't have to do all this. Zan would be happy with just a cake you know."

Mia stopped what she was doing and looked at Letty. "I know. I missed the first 8 birthdays. And I have to keep my cool Aunt title."

Letty laughed. "Trust me Mia you cook eatable food. You won't be losing that title anytime soon." Letty looked around the kitchen and began to itch. She didn't do cooking, if Mia would have let her way they would of gone out to eat for Zan's birthday. Then her phone rang, it was Brian. "I gotta take this. You need anything else?"

Mia waived her off. Letty went to her room and closed the door. "Tell me good news."

"It took me forever but I found it. I'll bring it to Harry's tonight. You sure about this car?"

Zan came into the room. "Mom Aunt Mia said she needs more mayo for the potato salad."

Letty slammed her phone shut. "Sure, kiddo."

Zan crinkled his nose up. "Who was that?"

"Wrong number?" She got up and kissed him on the the head. "Excited about your party? Mia really out doing herself."

He smiled and nodded. "She said we can get a moon bounce."

"Really? Wow."

"Yeah it's gonna be great." He said solemnly. "Mom? Do you think Dad will remember that it's my birthday?"

She looked at her son and all her doubts subsided. She knew that she had to do this for her son, bring Dom back. "I'm sure where ever your Dad is his wishing that he was here with you."

"_You think he'll like it?" Dom asked Letty unsure of his decision. _

_Letty nodded and smiled. "He's one, Dom. He gets exited about a cardboard box. I think he'll like it."_

_Dom looked down at his sleeping son. Then looked at Letty. "This isn't how I wanted things..."_

_Letty wrapped her arms around him. "He's not going to remember the presents, the cake. What his is going to remember that his Dad loved him enough to spend 6 hours in a toy store trying to find the perfect gift. Which by the way is pretty awesome."_

"_You think?"_

_She kissed him on the nose. "Yep."_

The day of Zan's party was pretty hectic Mia forgot how much work a barbecue was. But she was enjoying it. It made her think about when her Dad was alive and they would throw the end of the summer barbecue with the whole neighborhood. They would close off the street, blast music, and play until the stars lit the streets. She remembered the last barbecue before her father died, how perfect that one was. Letty had come back from visiting friends in Hawaii for the summer, Vince had gotten out of jail, and her brother had dumped Lisa Belle the bitchest girl she ever meet. Mia was excited because it was her last summer before her senior year of high school.

"_Letty!" Mia squeezed as she hugged the prodigal girl. _

_Letty peeled Mia off of her. "Have you been drinking?" Letty asked smelling the alcohol on Mia's breath. _

"_Only a little." She showed Letty how much with her fingers. Mia wrapped her arm around her. "So how was the sunshine state?"_

_Letty removed Mia's arm. "I wouldn't know since Florida is the sunshine state."_

_Mia pouted. "Oh, then what's Hawaii?" _

"_Aloha State. Mia where's Dom?" Letty had to hold up Mia because she was about to tip. _

_Mia looked around the street. "I dunno, probably brooding somewhere. He dumped Lisa. Oh Vince got out of jail!" Mia started to jump up and down and clap. "Oh I shouldn't of done that." _

_Letty had to step aside as Mia vomited._

"_Whoa. Come on girl." Letty helped Mia into the house. She managed to avoid her father and the other adults and got Mia to her room._

"_Letty how come we aren't friends? I wanna be friends." She pouted as Letty dumped her on the bed. _

_She huffed as she tried to take off Mia's shoes. "I dunno. We just run in different circles is all."_

_Mia kept swinging her legs around giving Letty a hard time. "But, you're always over here. And I think Dom likes you. Oh." Mia popped up. "You two should so hook up!" She clapped._

_Letty gave up on helping Mia into bed and just sat down. Mia sat on her knees. "I think you guys would be hot together. You both enjoy cars. And you don't mind body odor cause you're always by Vince. Annndd I know he missed you this summer." She tapped her finger on the tip of Letty's nose. "That's why he broke up with Ms. Bitch cause he knew you were coming home."_

_Letty had to chuckle. Mia drunk was hilarious. "You need water." Letty left Mia who had decided to lay down._

"_When you get back?" A baritone voice said behind her. Letty turned to see Dom standing in the door frame of the kitchen._

"_Just now. Mia's drunk." _

_Dom sighed. "Yeah I know. I just saw her upstairs. She was singing Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo in her hair brush."_

_Letty stared at Dom for his lack of reaction. Normally Hulk Dom would be stomping all over the place._

"_You not gonna Hulk out? I kinda of missed that this summer." Letty brushed by Dom on her way out. She could feel his eyes following her upstairs._

_When she got back to Mia's room she was past out on the floor. She was about to call for Dom when he came behind her and put Mia in the bed. They managed to get Mia in bed quietly. _

"_I think our little girl is growing up." Letty joked as she closed the door to Mia's room. She was feeling a bit uncomfortable because Dom just stood there looking at her like she was the last steak._

"_What?"_

_He didn't respond, just kissed her. She was a little hesitant at first but then she kissed back. They found themselves in his room making out on his bed._

"_Miss me much?" She asked between kisses. Dom didn't answer just made a move for her pants. She stopped him. "Hey, slow down." _

_He groaned. "What?" Dom had this frustrated confused look on his face._

"_Nothing." She snapped. "I should check on Mia." Letty pushed Dom off of her._

_Dom found Letty sitting against Mia's bed. She was picking at her nails. He stood at the door looking at her. She was pissed and he knew it. "Sorry." He mumbled. _

"_Yeah whatever."_

"_Letty." He pleaded. He turned to leave but pivoted back around. "It's your birthday today right?" _

"_Yeah."_

"_Sweet 16." Dom smiled. "Happy Birthday. You've been missed." He told her as he left._

"_Seee I told you." Mia ruffled Letty's hair. "Letty and Dom sitting..." Mia didn't finish the last part because she past out._

Letty cleaned up the party for Mia and she put Zan to bed. She was able to break away and call Brian to tell him to meet her at Harry's garage with the car she wanted to get a head start. She could help but be tickled to see her new car sitting in Harry's garage, it was a thing of beauty.

"You know Letty it took some of the FBI's finest to find this thing." Brian said clearly amused by Letty's reaction to the car.

"I'm glad tax payers money aren't going to waste. Did you get the parts?"

Brian nodded and pointed to the work bench in the corner. "So how long do you think it's going to take to her to racing speed?"

Letty popped the hood. "Maybe a couple of weeks three tops to get _him_ racing. Me on the other hand."

Brian laughed. "What shook your confidence? This doesn't sound like the girl who would leave tread marks faces and has one hell of a right hook."

She leaned against the front end of the car and laughed. "Those girls couldn't ever take a hint."

They were silent for a moment. "How's your son?"

"He has his days. His birthday was today. Mia went all out, moon bounce, she even got go carts." Letty looked at her feet. "I think she was trying to make up for the fact that Dom wasn't there."

He ducked so that he could meet her eyes. "That's why your doing this. Bring Dom back."

Letty had developed a pretty good routine. She would spend her days working on her Roadrunner that Brian had got, get home to pick Zan up from school, then Mia would cook dinner and they all would eat as a family. She would spend the rest of the time helping Zan with his homework and working on the Charger. Every now and then Brian would show up at the garage and help out. She liked having him around it was almost like having the old team back together.

"_You can't keep bringing strays in, man." Letty scorned Jesse._

"_But, it looked so sad sitting there all alone. I couldn't help it." Jesse replied solemnly. _

_Vince, Leon, Jesse, and Letty all stood over the 350 small block Chevy Camaro that Jesse had brought from the scrap yard. Jesse just stared at the sad state of the car's engine. "We're going to have to re build it from scratch. Maybe rush delivery on parts."_

"_It could be fun." Leon noted._

_Vince huffed. "It sounds like work." _

"_Fraid you might get your nails dirty?" Letty teased. _

_Vince shoved her. Leon hit Jesse on the back. "Better get to work." Jesse nodded and headed over to his computer to lay out the designs. Leon and Letty began to strip out the interior while Vince pulled out the engine. _

"_Shit!" Vince yelled sucking his bleeding finger. "Goddamn piece of shit." He kicked the front bumper in frustration. Leon laughed from his stool where he was cleaning a valve._

"_Awe poor Baby Bear." Letty teased coming from under the car. "Let Momma see it." She tried to get Vince's finger but he jerked it away._

"_Hey Letty." Jesse stammered from his computer. "Whaddaya think?" _

_She went over to Jesse's computer to check out his designs. Letty let out a whistle. "Damn kid." She shoved him off his stool so she could get a better look at his designs. "This is good Jess."_

"_Really?" He sounded unsure._

"_Hell ya kid." She smiled playfully punching him in the arm. "Now all you gotta do is show Dom the bill." She hopped off the stool. "Good luck!"_

"_Awe damn Letty that's cold. Leaving that kid out to dry like that. You know your man is cheap." Leon piped in. Vince added an "Amen" to the conversation._

"_So, what do you want me to do about it."She asked._

_Leon wrapped his arms around her. "Baby girl that's up to you and the big man. Just do whatever you two do to make him Mr. Cheerful in the morning." _

"_Yeah, that's the best time to hit him up for anything. How you think I got new speakers for the Maxima." Vince laughed._

_Letty pushed away from him. "Wait are you fools pimping me out for parts?"_

_Leon gave her a Chester cat grin. "Well if you put it like that baby girl, you need to get to the block and bring daddy new tires and sound system." He said hitting her on the butt._

"_F you guys." She laughed at she went to work__._

With Brian's help Letty was able to finish the Roadrunner quicker than she had anticipated. She had called up Hector's cousin Remy to find out where the racers where going to be located. She was going to race for the first time in 8 years. She could feel the rush coming back slowly.

* * *

A/N: To the awesome peeps who review this...

Princess Cheese - I actually meant to spell Zan's name with an X because he's name is Alexander but it was too late, so I stuck with the Z spelling. But Zan rhymes with Pan.

loveangel19- Now where's the fun in telling you the end plan? You'll have to wait, cause that is something I haven't decided on yet.

Santiva Potter- You have discovered my weakness, homophones. :( They have been the bane of my existence since I started grammar back in elementary school.

-This is kind of a filler chapter, but the races will commence in the next. I'm not the best when it comes to writing action so I'm apologizing a head of time for the suckiness that will ensue. Thanks for the love.

Tonya


	10. Chapter 10

Letty laid next to Zan reading to him from Alice in Wonderland, "...Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again. The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep well." She closed the book.  
"You just started." Zan whined.

"Sorry, bedtime Kiddo. Next time when I tell you to shut off video games maybe you'll listen." She placed a kiss on the top of his head. "Night."

The boy sighed. "Night."

Letty joined Mia on the couch watching TV. "What we watching?" She asked pulling her knees to her chin.

"The French Connection." Mia replied.

Letty couldn't help but laugh at the irony of the night. First Zan wanted to read Alice in Wonderland about a girl who got in over her head going blindly down a rabbit hole and now Mia watching a movie about cops on the trail of a heroin shipment. Mia looked at her funny. Mia had fallen asleep before the best part of the movie the car chase scene through the city. Letty shook her gently to wake her after the movie.

"Is it over?" Mia yawned looking to Letty.

"Yep. You look tired."  
"We have this new nursing director who is driving me crazy." Mia stretched out on the couch.

"Go to bed Mia." Letty laughed.

"I'm not tired." She replied between yawns. "Besides we haven't hung out much lately. You've been working at Harry's or on the Charger. I miss you."

"How bout I drop Zan off at Abuelita's one weekend and we can go out."

Mia smiled at the thought of that. "God remember when we use to go out dancing all night? What was the name of that club?"

"Midnight." Letty laughed. "Dom would be waiting for us to get home on the bottom step."

"Where were you guys." Mia imitated Dom cracking up.

Letty waived her finger. "Don't laugh. When you were sleeping soundly in bed I had to hear him whine all night about how you should be studying and I don't need to go out because I have a man."

Mia laughed even harder. "Sorry, Let." She flipped around so her head was resting on Letty's lap. "He changed a lot when he got back. It was like he wasn't my brother anymore." she mused.

_Letty found Dom sitting on the porch steps looking up at the stars. It was his first night out of Lompoc and Mia and Vince had thrown him a welcome home party. She took a seat beside him. Dom took her hand and interlocked their fingers. "You're missing Vince doing his Ace Ventura." Letty told him. "I've seen that man's ass one time too many."_

_He chuckled slightly but then got really quiet. "Everything has changed I don't know where I fit in anymore." He said softly._

_She squeezed his hand tighter. "Right here Papi. Things haven't changed that much... Mrs. Carter still wears those short shorts that her ass is too old to wear to water her petunias. Mr. Dowely still refuses to get his muffler fix, even though Vince and I offered to fix if for free, waking up the whole damn neighborhood up at 3 in the morning when he goes to work. Thompson is still complaining about Wu's hedges being too tall..."_

_Dom chuckled slightly. "Yeah but you guys..." He said looking in her eyes._

_Letty put her hands up in protest. "What! We still need you. I mean who else is going to save Vince from those lame ass pick up lines, Mia still needs her big brother and someone to reach the high shelf."_

_Dom nudged her slightly with his shoulder. "What about you?" He tucked a stray hair behind her ear. "You still need me?"_

_She blushed slightly."Who else am I going to get to watch Return of the Living Dead marathon with me until 4 in the morning." She nudged him back. "Come on... if we hurry Vince will have pulled up his pants by now." She stood holding her hand out for him to take._

Letty left Mia on the couch asleep, she went to check on Zan before she left the house for the races.

The race scene was pretty much like she remembered it. Music blaring, flashy cars, and women wearing napkins as clothings. She felt a little over dressed with her tank and jeans, but she wasn't there to impress. She was there to kick ass. But her insecurity kicked in when she stepped out the car. Usually she had her boys and Mia. That's when it hit her, she was alone in this. No Dom, Vince, Leon or Jesse to get her back if she got in too deep. Letty always prided herself on being independent, but at this moment she could use all the help she could get.

She looked around to see if she could pick out Hector's cousin Remy. She scanned the crowd for the likely candidates. There were a couple of guys that fit the profile, but they didn't have enough flair. She was sure anyone related to Hector would have flair. Then she saw a pack of boys with women draped around them sitting on the most expensive looking cars. Remy had to be in this crowd.

Letty took a deep breath, they couldn't let them see her sweat. "Hey, I'm looking for Remy."

A large, muscular guy grabbed her wrist. "You lookin' for a baby daddy I'm your man."

Letty scoffed and leaned close to the guy and in a soft, sultrily tone. "Even if you were the last man on earth and the re population of man kind depended on you and me producing an offspring I would rather take my chance with a monkey cause at least I would know the kid would be cute."

The guys friends laughed. "Now can one of you tell me where I can find Remy?" She said with her arms crossed.

One of the guys in the group pushed off the car. "You have to be Letty. Tio Hector said you be coming round." He took her away from the others. "Sorry bout my boy Luke, he has a hard time talking to pretty girls."

"Hey Remy, whose this?" A red head asked wrapping her arms round him. "She gonna party with us tonight?"

Remy shook his head no and took the girl off of him. "Naw, sorry boo Letty don't party. But, why don't you go ask Megan."

The girl pouted. "To bad, looks like she plays dirty." She blew a kiss to Letty.

Remy had a huge smile on his face. Letty couldn't help but laugh slightly she was used to the skanks hitting on Dom.

He clapped his hands together. "So I don't know how Tio used to run things but this is how I do it. It's a 3g buy in and a 500 holding fee."

"Holding fee?"  
"Yeah it cost money to look this good." He paused a moment. "But since you're a friend of Tio's I'm going to waive the holding fee. Besides I'm looking forward to seeing the queen re take her thrown."

She arched her eyebrow. "Queen?"

"Tio Hector said your man was the king of the streets back in the day, so that would make you the queen." Remy told her. "So how you want to do this? I got three races tonight. The pee wee league basically rich boys in their daddy's car wanting to play bad boy for the night just to get their girl wet. Then there's the minor league wanna bes with decent cars but don't know how to drive. The major league that has my boy Spider. He's the man to beat. Drives a Acura NSX Mugen RR." He pointed to a bright blue car with a skinny kid with a Dodger hat and spider neck tattoo.

Letty thought a moment if she was going to do it she had to go and dive in. It had been three months since Dom left. Zan was still afraid of waking up and finding her gone in the morning, so he kept sleeping in her bed at night. She didn't want that burden for her son. "Go big or go home, right?"

"That's what I'm talking about." Remy had the same wide smile as Hector did. Letty handed him the money. "So the main event is a little later. So why don't you enjoy the sights and I'll holla at you when the time comes."

She watched as Remy walked away towards his boys and she was missing her boys at that moment. She thought about what Remy had said about Dom being the king and her being the queen then her boys were the knights. Leon on the scanners making sure everything was clear. Jesse all hopped up on the pretty shiny engines, and Vince flexing his muscles every time a pretty girl walked by. Letty felt an arm wrap around her. She was about to put who ever it was in there place when she saw the familiar pearly whites.

"What are you doing here?" She asked Brian.

"I couldn't miss out on your first race." He leaned into her. "Besides who gonna look after you?"

"I can look after myself."

"I know you can, but if something happened to you Letty..."

"Brian, this isn't my first time. I've popped that cherry a long time ago."

Remy waived at her indication that she was up. She sighed heavily. "I'm up."

Brian opened her car door. "You'll do fine."

She gave him a nervous smile and drove off.

Letty pulled up to the line. She eyed her competition. To her left was this butch looking girl with cornrows she was driving a Honda S2000 it was fast but nothing she couldn't handle. On her right was this kid who didn't look old enough to drive and looked like he was sitting on phone books to reach the steering wheel. Her real competition was at her far right the Spider guy Remy told her about. He was the new king of the street and she had to dethrone him.

"Alright people tonight we got ourselves a special event tonight. We got the original queen of the street returning to claim her throne." Remy pointed to Letty's car. Everyone looked in the direction to try to get a glimpse of her, but she didn't notice because for her everything grew quiet. She didn't hear Remy or the crowd. The only sound she heard was the pounding of her heart and she felt like it was going to jump out her throat. Letty pulled out her favorite picture of Zan and Dom from her glove box kissed it then put it back. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

"_So what are you going to do?" Letty asked Leon. She gazed out to the Baja night skyline. The sun was just setting and the sky was colored in orange, read, and pink hues it was the most beautiful sunset she had seen. _

_Leon took a drag of his cigarette. He had taken up smoking the last few weeks. He said it calmed his nerves. "My half sister has a farm out in Virginia thought I might look her up or something." He replied taking another drag._

_Letty huffed. "A farm, what you gonna start racing trackers or something?"_

_He coughed phlegm rattling in his throat."Naw, I need a change. Slow down." They was a life defining silence between them, neither of them not waiting to say what was on their minds. _

_Leon threw his cigarette down crushing out the embers. "You don't owe him anything."_

_Finally Letty meet his eyes and shrugged. "I love him."_

_He picked up his bag. "Just don't let that love get you killed." He kissed her on the head. "Take care baby girl." He wiped away the tear that was falling down her cheek. _

_It was hard for Letty to watch Leon walk away, but even harder for her not to go after him hop in the drive and away in the sunset with him. _

_She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as the life she knew just drove away, her new life sat on the musty hotel bed with his head in his hands defeated._

"_Hey." She said lifting Dom's head to look at her. He grabbed her waist pulling her closer. She held him like she did when his father died, like the night before he went away to prison, and she would continue to hold him as long as he would let her._

They screeching of tires broke Letty from her trance. She needed to go. She put the car in gear and pressed her foot to the pedal. She got off the line slower than she would of liked. But still able to pull up pass Doogie Howser and the butch chick so that she was close running with Spider and another guy. Remy was right Spider was fast really fast, but she was determined. She had managed to corner the other guy out now it was just her and Spider. He jetted out in front of her quickly. Letty knew that he prematurely ejected his NOS. Patience was a key in racing, both her father and Dom's taught her that. She shifted to a higher gear giving her more speed, she could see the painted finish line in the distance. She was neck and neck with Spider. She ejected her NOS propelling her forward. But she wasn't sure if it was enough to win. She had cross the finish line not sure if she had won or not. Returning to the start with Remy and the crowd she got out the car with cheers from the crowd and seething looks from butch chick and Spider.

"Damn Ma, Tio Hector said you were fast..." Remy shouted handing her the money she had won.

Letty looked around the crowd for Brian, she saw the blond in the distant getting in his car. He smiled and waived before he drove away.

* * *

*Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll


	11. Chapter 11

Remy invited her back to Hector's club to celebrate her victory, but she decided to go back home. When she got there she found Zan sprawled out in her bed. She got in the shower then joined her son in slumber. She spent the next few nights just as before at the races. She won most of her races creating a name for herself. Hector showed up a couple of times for old times sake.

Letty sat on her car talking to Doogie after a race. She had taken to the the boy because he reminded her a lot of Jesse. Young and excitable when it came to cars. He offered to help to make some modifications to the Roadrunner. They were both under the hood when Remy approached her. He waived Doogie away and the kid complied.

"What's up?"

"People been talking."

"Yeah." with a raised eyebrow she replied.

Remy pointed to a black man standing in the distance. "Don't be a stranger." He threw her a black box.

She looked confused. "What is this?"

"Your diploma."

"_Leticia Ortiz." Letty wiped her hands on her gown and walked to the front to get her diploma. It was a long four years and she was glad it was over. She heard the whoop and hollers from both her families. Her Abuelita and her crazy cousins, then the Torettos and Vince making fools of themselves. Letty gave a big thumbs up to everyone when she got her slip of paper. They continued to cheer long after she got off stage._

"_Keep 'em closed." Vince ordered covering Letty's eyes with his massive hands._

"_I hoped you washed your hands." Letty joked._

_Vince took one of his hands and sniffed it. "They're clean." _

_Mia quickly covered Letty's eyes with her own delicate hands. "Vince!" She scorned. _

_He shrugged. The other Toretto's were busy pulling a tarp over Letty's graduation present._

_Mia and Vince managed to get Letty to sit on a stool in the garage. _

"_Ok Vince you can take your hands off." The elder Toretto order._

_Letty mocked surprised. "You guys got me a lump!" She pointed the the giant lump in the middle of the garage floor. _

_Mia hit her on the shoulder. "Go check it out."_

_Letty rolled her eyes and sighed. She slid off the stool and removed the tarp. "You guys got me a hunk of metal!" She squealed._

"_Do you always have to be a smart ass." Dom noted._

_Letty nodded. "Yep. That's why you love me."_

"_Well?" Mr. Toretto asked. "Do you like it?"_

_Letty walked around her metal. She could tell by the make that her lump was a Nissan. She had mention it in passing that she was saving up for a new car. She couldn't share a car with her cousins forever. But she wanted to play it cool. "It's ok." _

_Dom stepped closer to her. "Say it." He whispered in her ear. Letty shook her head. "Say it." He said a little more deeper._

_Letty felt a chill go up her spine. Ever since she had gotten back from Hawaii last summer Dom had been a little more attentive to her. Always finding a way to be near her, touch her, and now he was killing her. _

_Dom put his hand on the small of her back and started rubbing her gently. "Say it." He whispered again._

"_Fuck." She said exacerbated. "Fine. It's a sweet ride." She couldn't hold her excitement any longer. "How'd you guys know?"_

_Mr. Toretto laughed. "Letty you've been dropping hints every time you get a chance. Man I can't wait until I get some money I'm gonna buy me a Nissan 240 and sup it up." He mocked in a high pitched girl's voice._

_Mia piped in. "I can't stand sharing a car with Stacy and Allison. When I get my Nissan those bitches are gonna have to drive themselves." She mocked._

_Vince was about to put his two cents in when Letty pointed a finger at him. "Shut up."_

_He gave her a innocent church boy grin. "I didn't say anything."_

_She ran her fingers gently around the the jagged edges of the car. "What happened to it?" It was in a sad state._

"_Some kid hit at pole doing 80 racing." Mr. Toretto said. He wasn't a fan of street racing and always made it clear to Dom, Vince, and Letty that under no circumstances were they supposed to engaged in the illegal activity. "Don't think I don't know what you kids are up to." He said turning the trio. _

"_Pop no offense, Letty couldn't race this thing even if she wanted." Dom laughed. "She could maybe tow it. It's gonna some major wrench work and money to get it driving down the street let alone race it."_

_Letty laughed. "What! First off Dominic. Who said I don't have the cash? I got hella lot of money form my Quinceañera saved and I'm raking it in from graduation. And don't worry about the wrench work cause I don't get distracted by every little thing in a mini skirt that walks by."_

"_Yeah." Dom said challenging. _

_Letty crossed her arms. "I could have my Nissan up and running in a couple of weeks." _

_Both of them were staring each other down. Mia leaned into Vince. "Those two need to get a room."_

"_Letty, I got this for you cause I want you to have something to drive home on weekends." The elder Toretto piped in._

_Everyone got quiet. Letty hadn't told anyone but Mr. Toretto and Abuelita about getting accepted to college. Her guidance consoler had made her fill out a bunch of applications. Letty didn't think that she would get accepted anywhere let alone pay for college. But, her guidance counselor and apparently Mr. Toretto had gave her glowing recommendations. She got the accepted to Santa Cruz Polytechnic University in the mechanical engineering program. _

_Mia was the first to speak. "You got into college?"_

_Letty looked at her shoes. "Yeah. I was gonna tell you guys tonight."_

"_That's great Letty!" Mia hugged her. "Where?"_

"_Santa Cruz Polytechnic University."_

_Dom looked at her. "Santa Cruz?." He asked solemnly. __  
_

The next morning Letty meet Brian at Harry's. "Seems people been talking." She handed him the black box Remy gave her.

"Is this what I think it is?"

"Apparently, I've graduated." She said with a devilish grin.

Brian examined the box. "It's a GPS unit." He crinkled his head in thought. "I guess this is how they contact you about the races."

"So what I sit by the GPS and wait ?"

He tossed it back to her. "Yep."

Letty's phone rang. "Hey Kiddo... Shit I forgot.... Ok you'll get your 5 bucks when I see you. You know you're driving me to the poor house. Back at you." When she hung up the phone she noticed Brian's million dollar smile. "What?"

"You're someone's mom."

She punched him in the arm. "Shut up."

Brian opened her jeep door. "It suits you, Letty. Motherhood."

Letty ran into Zan's school caring his costume that Mia had made. He was standing waiting for her with Dom's impatient expression he got when ever she forgot something.

"Mom you're late."

She put her hands up in the air. "Sorry, lost track of time." She kissed him on the forehead.

He wiped it off. "Mom." He took his costume. "Are you going stay?"

Letty looked into the auditorium. "Is scary cat lady here?"

Zan laughed and took Letty inside. "There you are Zan. I see you have your costume. Go let Coach Cortiz help you with the costume." A tall slinger woman said.

He nodded and ran to the front of the auditorium. "You must be Zan's mother. I'm Ms. Perry his teacher."

The two women shook hands. "He talks about all the time." Letty said putting her hands in her pocket. She was never was found of teachers.

"He's a great kid. One of my brightest students." She gestured for Letty to sit down. "But he has been falling asleep in class..."

Letty sighed. "He's been having trouble sleeping." She ruffled her hair in frustration. "Things haven't been easy for him. The move was a big adjustment for him."

"He tells me that you guys have moved around a lot and he seems pretty angry that his father left."

Her eyebrows raised. She wondered how much her son has told his teacher about their lives. She never had a conversation with him about her and Dom's past about why they had to move around so much. She wanted to protect him from that part of their lives. Letty nervously ran her hands through her hair. "He took it pretty hard when his Dad left. That's why I decided to come back to L.A. I have family here and I thought it would better for him to have the stability of family."

Ms. Perry put a comforting hand on Letty's lap. "You don't have to explain to me. As a parent you do what you think is best for your child. Like I said Zan's a great kid. Everyone just adores him."

"Hey Mom what you think?" Zan turned around in his tin man costume.

Letty couldn't help but smile her man looked good. "You look great Kiddo."

Ms. Perry smiled also. "Zan's the tallest kid in the third grade we figured that he would make the best tin man." She told Letty.

Zan was beaming. "My scene coming up you wanna watch me?"

"Por supuesto. Hay ninguin donde esté algo."

Letty sat and watched the rest of Zan's class rehearsal of the Wizard of Oz.

She decided after rehearsal that she would take Zan out for dinner. "So I had a chat with you teacher."

Zan put down his cheeseburger. He knew what they had talked about. "Are you mad?"

"No. I wished that you would have told me how you were feeling. You always told me everything, Kiddo."

He looked down fiddling with the fries on his plate. "I didn't want to make you sad."

"Hey look at me." Zan looked up with tears in his eyes. "There is nothing in this world that you can do to make me sad." Letty went to his side of the booth. She wiped his tears with her sleeve. "How bout we skip school and work and we hit the waves tomorrow morning."

Zan perked up. "Really? Just you and me?"

"Just you an me. But, you can't tell your Aunt Mia because she'll kick our ass if she knew we ditched."

He laughed and stuck his hand out. "You cuss. Five bucks and you still owe me my five from earlier."

Mia found Letty the next morning at the table eating a bowl of cereal. "Zan's up early." She noted sitting down her breakfast plate.

"Is he?" Letty smirked.

Mia nodded. "Yeah and he went to bed the first time you told him to last night."

"He's a good boy."

Mia laughed and took a bite of her eggs. Letty snatched a piece of bacon from Mia's plate. She tried to grab it from her but Letty was too quick chumping down on it. "I got a letter from Leon." Mia told her.

"Yeah?"

Mia nodded. "He's getting married."

Letty choked on cereal. "What?"

Mia smiled. She got up to get the letter so that Letty could read it. "He even sent a picture."

Letty looked at the picture. Leon was clean shaven and had put on some pounds since the last time she saw him. The girl on his arm was beautiful. She had jet black hair and dark eyes. "Wow, some one has tamed our boy."

"He's coming back. He wants to introduce her to his mom and step father, and go see Jesse."

"Jess birthday is Friday." Letty read the letter. Leon was coming back to LA and he would be here in three days.

* * *

Translations

por supuesto. hay ninguÌn donde esté algo- of course there is no where I rather be

* * *

A/N

Whew! I got this one out. Crazy week work and school are kicking my butt. Thanks for the reading & reviewing. Tonya


	12. Chapter 12

To the normal person the morning would be perfect. The sun was shinning, birds chirping, picture perfect. But, the winds were at peace which made for a lousy surfing conditions. Letty kept playing over the last words Leon had spoken to her "Don't let that love get you killed" over in her head.

"Mom!" Zan splashed her in the face.

"Sorry, you ready to go in yet?"

"Yeah, LA waves suck ain't nothing but ankle snappers out here." He turned and paddled towards the shore.

Letty sat there a moment thinking about what she was planning to do. "Go big or go home" is what she told Remy. She knew that now was the time to make up her mind before she got in too deep.

"Mom you coming?" Zan waived from the shore line.

Letty looked up and followed her son in. They had gathered their stuff and were heading towards the car.

"You were really acing out back there." Zan threw his bag in the backseat.

Letty tied up the surfboards to the roof. "Sorry, kiddo. What do you want to do for the rest of the day?"

"Can we do the go karts?"

"_Letty this is ridiculous I don't even fit." Dom said as he tried to fit in the small go kart._

_With ease Letty crawled into hers. "Don't bitch out on me now, Toretto."_

"_Bitch out?" Dom repeated her words in amusement. He wiggled his large torso into the car. "I got you."_

_Letty and Dom pulled up to the line with the rest of the team. "So three laps around." Letty shouted. "Loser makes dinner." Mia added as she took off. Everyone laughed taking off behind Mia. _

_It was a rule within the team that they didn't race each other. It was bad for business. So was the first time the team had actually raced each other. After the stress of the Tran job going bad everyone needed to have some fun. So Letty came up with the idea of go go karting. It was something they had enjoyed as kids with Mia and Dom's father. Mia ended up winning with Letty in a close second._

"_You cheated." Dom said as he pulled in last place._

_Letty had her arm wrapped around Mia's neck. "He's just salty cause he lost to his baby sister." _

"_Yeah man, don't matter if you win by a mile or an inch winning is winning." Leon added laughing._

_Jesse went up to the big man and patted him on the back. "So what's for dinner?"_

"_And take out doesn't count." Mia said grinning. _

_The team had their full of Dom's dinner of spaghetti and meat balls and he was in the kitchen cleaning up. Letty joined and started drying._

_Dom flicked __sudsy_ _ water at her. She snapped the dish towel hitting him on the shoulder. He grabbed her and pinned her against the sink. They gazed at each other for a moment. Dom rubbed her cheek with his thumb. "Thank you. I had fun."_

"_Even though you got your ass handed to you by your baby sister?" She said with an evil twinkle in her eyes._

_He smirked lifting her up on the sink counter kissing her._

"_Ewe not in the kitchen guys." Mia said with her hand over her eyes. "God you two."_

"Most Mom's would of let their kid win." Zan said getting out of his car.

"Well I'm not most Moms." Letty tossed him her helmet. "Go turns these in and I'll call your Aunt Mia to see if she want to meet up for dinner."

Mia joined them at what was becoming Letty and Zan's favorite diner. It was this little burger joint by the beach. They were having a good time laughing and talking. Then this little girl with curly blond hair bounced over to their the table. Zan's face turned a bright red as he slid down in the booth.

"Hi Zan." The girl said sweetly.

Zan pulled his shirt over his head. "Hi Amber." He mumbled.

The girl pouted slightly. "How come you weren't at school today?"

Mia gave Letty a lopped sided grin. Letty shrugged. "He had a doctor's appointment, sweetie."

Mia nodded in her soda.

"Oh." The girl said delighted. She did a slight hop. "Well see you tomorrow." The little girl waived.

Mia and Letty started laughing. "Who was that?" Letty asked her son pulling his shirt down.

"Amber she's in my class." He said with an eye roll.

Amber returned to their table along with her mother who had the same curly blond hair. "You must be Zan's mother." The woman said. "I'm Tamara, Amber's mother. I didn't get a RSVP from you and I was wondering if Zan would be able to make it to Amber's birthday this weekend? We're renting out the skating ring."

Zan sunk back into the booth again. "Sorry, I've been meaning to call." Letty told the woman.

"Oh, well I might have an extra invitation in my purse." Tamara dug through her bag and pulled out an invitation in the shape of a roller skate. "Here, all the information is on there."

"Thank you." Letty smiled.

"Oh by the way, Zan is the most adorable Tin Man." Tamara took Amber's hand. "Well we have to go. Nice meeting you..."

"Letty."

"Letty right. Well see you Saturday Zan." The girls sauntered away with their golden locks bouncing behind them.

"I'm not going to Amber's birthday. She's gross." Zan huffed. "All she does is giggle and she smells weird."

Letty held in her laugh. "It could be fun. You never been to a skate party before."

Zan scrunched up his face. "Doubt it." He mumbled.

"You're going to have to get her a present." Mia added also trying to hold back her laugher. Mia never thought she would see the day that a Toretto man would think girls are gross.

"_So when are you coming back?" Dom whined over the phone. Letty had drove her Abuelita to Miami to see her brother and his wife for their wedding anniversary. It was the first time apart since the had become "official" as Mia had put it._

"_Miss me already?" Letty teased. "God I'm never driving Abuelita anywhere ever again. All she kept yelling, desaceleración usted va a ayunar. Guarde sus ojos en el camino. Dom, I was going 50."_

_Dom laughed on the other end of the phone. "You didn't answer my question when are you coming back?"_

_He could hear her sigh on the phone. "I don't know. It took me 8 days to get here with Abuelita. And Tio Juan and Tia Maria's anniversary isn't until Saturday. And then Abuelita wants to go visit her friend in Dallas on the way back."_

_Dom sunk into bed. "That sounds like a long time."_

_They were both silent for a moment. "Look Letty I have to go." Dom said curtly breaking the silence._

"_Fine. I'll call you tomorrow."_

"_Don't bother I got a lot of work to do." Dom hung up the phone._

_Mia leaned against the door frame of his room. "So when's Letty coming back?"_

_Dom shrugged. "What does that mean?" She asked._

"_Means I don't fucking know, Mia." He brushed pass her down the stairs._

"_What crawled up your ass." She followed him down stairs into the kitchen. "Hey." She said softy. "She's coming back Dom."_

_He slammed the refrigerator door close. "I just miss, her."_

_Mia stood there shocked. She couldn't believe that her brother could care about one person the way he care about Letty. Dom never had a girl longer than a month, he didn't do girlfriends. But, him and Letty had been together for almost a year. "You really love her, huh?"_

"_Yeah I do."_

"_Leticia, consiga la puerta!" _

"_Alright Tia!" She yelled back. Letty opened the door to see Dom standing there with a duffel bag. "Dom?"_

_He didn't mutter a word just grabbed her and kissed her until they were both out of breath. _

Letty's phone rang. "Hey, hold on." She looked at Mia. "I gotta take this." She told her as she slid out the booth. Mia just gave her a suspicious eye.

She walked away from the table and went outside. "Brian, what's up?"

"I haven't heard from you in a while. Just checking in."

Letty walked out side of the diner. "Don't worry I haven't done anything stupid yet."

"They haven't contacted you yet?"

Zan tapped her on the shoulder. "Aunt Mia wants to know if you want dessert?"

"Hold on?" She turned her attention to her son. Zan was giving her a wry look. "What's up kiddo?"

"Aunt Mia wants to know if you want dessert?" He asked again.

"Um yeah get that chocolate peanut butter thing we got the last time."

"You coming in?"

"In a moment ok?" Zan nodded and went back inside.

"Brian?" Letty pulled the phone back to her ear.

"I'm still here."

Letty rolled her tongue around in her mouth and sighed. "Nothing. I'll call you later."

She hung up the phone and joined her family back in th dinner.

"Bath then bed." Letty order Zan when they returned home. Runner scratched at the back door and she let him out.

Mia wasn't too far behind them coming home. She found Letty sitting on the picnic bench throwing a ball to Runner. She took a seat next to her.

"Are you seeing someone?" Mia asked out front. She had noticed Letty's behavior the past month, sneaking off in the middle of the night and secret phone calls. Mia wasn't upset about Letty having a relationship she was upset that she didn't tell her.

"What?"

"Come on, all the hushed conversations you have on the phone? Sneaking out in the middle of the night?"

Runner dropped the ball in Letty's lap. She threw it again and the dog followed. "I'm not seeing anyone."

"Look I wouldn't be mad if you were. I mean you deserve to be happy. Dom..."

"Mia." Letty snapped. "I'm not seeing anyone." Letty whistled for Runner to follow her inside.

Mia sat on the picnic bench convenience that Letty was hiding something from her.

* * *

Translations

Desaceleración usted va a ayunar. Guarde sus ojos en el camino- Slow down you are going to fast. Keep your eyes on the road.

* * *

Kinda short. But thanks for reading and reviewing.

xoxo

Tonya

Consiga la puerta- get the door


	13. Chapter 13

Mia was in a frenzy getting ready for Leon's visit. Mainly she was trying to keep her mind off of Letty and their fight. Mia hated being kept in the dark, that was something that Dom did and she was used to that. Letty on the other hand hadn't kept anything from her in the past so now that she was playing spy or whatever it was she was doing, her keeping secrets was pissing her off. So she kept busy by re arranging the living room furniture.

"_Leave it be, Mia!" Dom shouted slamming the screen door behind him. Mia sighed and continued making the salad for dinner. She told herself that she was crying because of the onions and not her brother. He was up to something, they all were. She swallowed hard trying not to start balling._

"_You alright?" A warm husky feminine voice asked._

_Mia smiled weakly. "Yeah, the onions."_

_Letty nodded and went to stand next to Mia. "Can I help?"_

_Mia nodded and handed her the knife she was using, then got another one for her. The two woman worked silently for a while before Letty spoke. "He doesn't like lying to you. He just doesn't want you to get involved."_

_Mia slammed the knife down. "I'm not six anymore. I don't need my big brother to hold my hand." Mia snapped._

"_Yeah but he needs for you to let him hold it, at least for a little while longer. His trying to find his place again. Being your big brother is one thing that he hadn't fucked up."_

_Mia rolled her eyes. She knew Letty was right, but it didn't stop her from being pissed. "So what's going on? Am I going to lose him again?"_

_Letty furrowed her brow. She knew Dom was going to be pissed, but Mia had the right to know. "You remember those Civics we got a while back?"_

_Mia nodded._

"_Well, they aren't for racing..." _

_Mia listened to Letty as she told them their plan on hijacking trucks. "Are you guys crazy? After that mess with Tran..."_

_Letty stopped her. "It's different this time."_

"_How?"_

_Letty shrugged. "It just is."_

_Mia shook her head and stormed out the kitchen. "Are you outta your mind?" She screamed at Dom._

_He was manning the grill and just raised an eyebrow at her. He looked at Letty who was standing in the door frame with her arms cross._

"_You told her?"_

"_She needed to know."_

_He pointed the tongs in Letty's direction. "Wasn't your place." He barked._

_Letty wasn't phased. "We are all in this or nothing."_

"Mia, it's fine." Letty snapped dropping an end of the sofa. It was the third time that they had moved it today. "I don't think that he's gonna care. This is the guy who slept in the bushes in his underwear." Letty replied exacerbated. She had also been on edge since their tiff and that she hadn't heard from the people yet. She was beginning to think that this was going to be a bust. Also she hated lying to Mia and Zan. Mia had been nothing but accommodating since they arrived on the doorsteps. And Letty was being a bitch to her. But all this will be worth it if she can clear Dom's name and he comes home. Zan gets his father back, Mia gets her brother, and her Letty wasn't sure about what she wanted for herself once this was all over.

Dom was apart of her for better or worst. Every since they were kids there was something between them, but being kids they didn't know what that was. Hell even as adults they still had trouble defining what that something was. Dom was a serial dater he liked his women like he liked his cars fast and flashy. While Letty changed men like she changed her socks. But after all was said and done they always ended up together.

_Dom waived good bye to his father and sister. They were going to visit his Aunt Theresa, she was having surgery so they were going to San Fransico for support. As he watched them leave another car pulled into the driveway. A sly smile crept across his face. Nina was a girl he knew from high school. She was the girl that everyone wanted to get with, him included. But, since she was two years older it was nothing more than a teenage boy's dream. He wasn't in high school anymore so all the social fopahs were out the door. He ran into at the high school the other day picking up Mia. She was in town for her little sister's volleyball tournament. Nina slinked out of her car wearing a tight black dress. Dom was impressed._

"_Hello Dominic." She waived walking towards him._

"_Nina, come in." He took her by the hand admiring her assets. "You cheer for your sister in that thing?"_

_She giggled slightly. "No, I picked this up at the mall today, you like?"_

_He just smirked guiding her straight into his bed room..._

_It was one of those days where nothing seemed to go right no matter how hard you tried. It started early for Letty. She had set her alarm clock for PM instead of AM so she woke up late. She was the last one up so it meant by the time she got to the shower there wasn't any hot water left. She didn't have access to the car because Allison and her friends went to Los Vegas for a three day weekend and her Abuelita was working a double at the nursing home so she couldn't borrow her car. She missed the metro bus so she was an hour late for school. This was her third tardy which meant she would get detention. _

_The school day wasn't any better. She forgot her world history homework at home and Mr. Drake her English Literature teacher was in a mood and he kept picking on her knowing she didn't read the assign book. Detention was even worst. She was stuck with Mr. Drake who made her write a paper on symbolism in the Great Gatsby, plus Fisher Mullen was sitting next to her and he hated soap._

_She missed the metro bus again on the way back home. She had to set at the bus stop for another hour. When the bus came back she discover she didn't have any more money on her metro card. The bus driver was being a dick and didn't let her ride. That's when she discovered that she didn't have her wallet._

_She had to walk home and that's when it started to pour down. Flicked off the perverts who shouted sexual comments and honked there horns at her as she walked in her Catholic school uniform. When she finally reached her house, she remembered that she gave Stacy her keys because Stacy had missed placed hers. Letty pulled her rain soaked sweater tighter and made the two and half block walk to Dom's house..._

_Dom placed butterflied kisses on Nina's back. She didn't disappoint him._

"_Mmmm." She purred. "So what else do you have in store for me?"_

_Dom laughed. "Damn girl you wearing me out."_

_He continued on his task of kissing Nina. As he reached for a condom the doorbell rang._

"_Doorbell." Nina said._

"_They'll go away." He said flipping her over. Then the door pounding began._

"_Shit!" Dom cursed hoping up to get dress and answered the door._

"_What!" he barked as he opened the door._

_Letty jumped back slightly at Dom's yelling. "Is that how you greet all your guests?" She said between chattering teeth. "You gonna let me in or just stand there?"_

_She didn't wait for an answer and just pushed by him to get out the rain._

"_Thanks, can I use the phone?" _

_Dom stared down Letty she was dripping wet and still in her uniform at 5 o'clock. Normally Letty would be striping out of it before she hit her house door. Complained the whole time how the plaid made her itch. _

"_Dom you coming back up baby?" Nina asked coming down the stairs wrapped in a bed sheet. Dom had forgotten she was up there._

_Letty almost dropped the phone when a half naked brunette came down the stairs. "Shit, Dom I didn't know you had a guest." She blushed then began fervently talking in Spanish to whoever it was she was calling._

"_Uh Nina." Dom ran his fingers through his hair. "Let's go back up stairs." Dom lead her back up stairs._

"_Puede bajar temprano. Ninguin no puedo permanecer aquí. Porque no puedo. Bien." Letty slammed the phone down. "Chingado!" Soon Dom and the girl came downstairs and she didn't look happy._

"_I can't believe you're kicking me out." She argued. Dom didn't say anything but just ushered her out the door. Then he turned his attention to Letty who was a wet mess. _

_He smiled warmly at her. "Hey lets get you out of those wet clothes. Why don't you take a warm shower and you can wear something of Mia's." He said softly taking her upstairs. She nodded and went into the bathroom._

_Twenty minutes later Letty came downstairs to find Dom in the kitchen cooking. "What are you doing?" She asked clearly amused._

"_Giving the stove an oil change. What does it look like?" He stirred the pot some more and waived her over. "Taste."_

_Letty shook her head. "Hell, no."_

_He dropped the spooned and dragged her over to the stove. He got another spoonful and blew on it to cool the liquid down. "Taste." He ordered._

_Hesitantly she took it. She tried to fight the smile that was coming across her face. "Not bad."_

_Dom laughed. "Not bad? Not bad?" He took a taste. "This shit is good." He poured the liquid in a bowl and handed to Letty. He fixed another bowl for himself and grabbed a row of saltines from the cabinet._

_They plopped in front of the television and Letty quickly took control of the remote. Dom just smiled and shook his head._

"_Sorry about the cock block. I just didn't know where else to go."_

_Dom just laughed and scooted a little closer to her._

Mia dropped her end of the sofa. "Fine." She huffed.

Letty let out a frustrated sigh and plopped down on the sofa. She buried her face in her hands. Runner had hopped up next to her nuzzling her to be petted. She obliged the dog rubbing it's belly. "You still love me don't you boy?" She asked.

Mia was wiping down the pictures on the mantel. She stopped and smile. "Didn't you put lipstick and eyeshadow on him that one time?"

Letty laughed. "Yeah and V took pictures. Then we drove down to the hour photo and made copies."

"You guys hung the all over the house. Leon didn't speak to you two for weeks." Mia took a seat beside Letty. "I just want you to be happy, you know."

Letty didn't respond she kept on rubbing the dog.

"It's just I don't want you to miss out on something great because of my brother." Mia nudge Letty slightly. "You're a hot Momma you know."

Letty laughed. "Well you're not too bad yourself." Letty thought a moment before she spoke because she knew she was about to tread on thin ice. "You're not still hooked on Brian are you?"

Mia got up and continued her dusting. "No."

"You sure? Cause that didn't sound like a definite no to me."

"Brian and I could never happen again. I don't think I could ever care for him like I did before. He was two people, the cop and the boyfriend. I don't know where one ends and the other begins."

"Yeah, but I doubt it was the cop part that fell for you."

Mia whipped around. "Why are you defending him? He was a cop, Letty. From the very first day he walked into our store. He was a cop and never stop being one..." She was on the verge of tears. She thought if she didn't fall for him then things would have worked out differently. Maybe then Jesse would be alive, Leon wouldn't be living on the other side of the country, Vince would still be around, and her brother would be with his family.

"I'm not defending him, Mia." Letty said coolly. "It's just ever since we got here you haven't talked about any guys. And I thought maybe you were still hooked on Brian is all."

Mia went back again to dusting the mantel. She didn't want to talk about it anymore. She hadn't really dated since Brian, she kept her focus on finishing school, and starting her career. Letty had no idea how incredibly lonely she had been the past 8 years with out her family. How she was afraid of getting close to someone just for them to lie to her, die in front of her, or leave.

Letty shooed Runner away. "Mia, I don't want to fight with you anymore." She told her. "Besides Zan you're all I got." She hugged Mia from behind. "You're stuck with me and kid like it or not." Letty kissed her on the back of the head. "I should go pick him up for play practice."

Letty got in her jeep when her phone ran. "Remy, que onda!"

"Hermosura, where you been at girl? Been missing you."

She started her car. "Busy. What can I do for you, Remy?"

He chuckled. "I got some major players coming in tonight and wanted to know if you want in on the action?"

Letty thought a moment. She had just made up with Mia and lying low for a couple of days would have been the logical thing to do. But Letty was never that kind of girl, she leap head first into everything. "Yeah I'm in."

Letty picked up take out on her way back from picking up Zan. She had to lay it on thick with Mia to get back in her good graces so she could go out with out a suspicious eye. She also made a stop a Ben and Jerry's and picked up a pint of Cherry Garcia Mia's favorite.

"So are you excited about going to Amber's party Saturday?" Letty asked with a smirk. She knew that he was dreading going. But she thought it was cute the way the little girl had asked Zan out.

"No. Do I have to go?" He whined.

"It's your first birthday invite in L.A. and I want to experience different things."

Zan opened the house door. "Can't I experience something that's not Amber?"

Letty shook her head and followed him inside.

"They're back!" Mia yelped. "Leon and Lindsay came up early! Isn't that great!" Mia dragged Letty in further in to living room to show her their guests.

Leon had a huge smile on his face. "What no love girl?"

* * *

Translations

Puede bajar temprano. NinguÌn no puedo permanecer aquí. Porque no puedo. Bien. -Can you get off early. No I can't stay here. Because I can't. Fine.

Chingado- damn it/fuck

que onda- what's up

hermosura-knock-out/hottie

* * *

I'm kinda geeking out I've reached 50 reviews! Thanks for all the love folks it means a lot this this the largest fanfiction endeavor I've taken on and I'm trying my best to finish it. So, knowing that folks actually like it is fueling the fire. So, thanks again.

Tonya


	14. Chapter 14

Letty dropped the take out bags and jumped into Leon's arms. "God I've missed you." She said into his ear.

Leon gave her a throaty laughed. "Same here baby girl." He put her down to get a better look. "You look good." He noted. He hugged her again just to make sure that it was real.

"Not so bad your self." She let go. "Now where is the girl that tamed you?"

"Naw I ain't tamed just a little contained is all." He chuckled leading Letty over to his fiancée. "Leticia this is Lindsay."

Letty punched him in the arm. "It's Letty, nobody calls me that except my Abuelita and he knows that." She extended her hand to the raven haired beauty. But she shook her head and hugged Letty.

"Nice to finally put a face to the name." She said. "Leon talks about you all the time."

Letty arched an eyebrow. "Really, now? I hope it was all good cause I got some pretty good blackmail stories and pictures to back them up."

Mia laughed, she had Zan wrapped in her arms. " Funny enough, we were just talking about Leon and his strange sleeping habits, today. Weren't we Let?" They both laughed.

_Dom wrapped his arms around Letty and kissed her neck. "Morning."_

"_Hey." She replied absently. _

"_Hey? That's all I get?"_

_Letty busted out in laughter. "He's waking up." Letty ran to the front door ._

_Puzzled Dom followed her to the door. Letty opened it and stood there with her hands on her hips._

_Leon stood there stark naked holding his private parts. "Letty let me in." He looked around nervously to see if anyone was around._

_She shook her head. "Not to you say it."_

"_Come on Let it's freezing."_

"_No not until you say it."_

_A car passed by honking its horn. "Dom help me out brotha."_

_Dom laughed walking away. "This is between you and Letty."_

"_Leon." Letty coyly said. "All you have to do is say it, and I'll give you something to cover up."_

_He sighed. "Fine. Letty Ortiz you are the Queen and my only purpose in life is to serve your majesty."_

"_Annnd?"_

"_And, I'm just a lowly grease monkey."_

_Letty tossed him a purple sock and slammed the door shut._

Leon shook his head. "You two are gonna get me in trouble." He looked at the boy in Mia's arms. "So this is the man?"

Letty couldn't help but beam. "Yep that's him. Zan say hello to Leon."

"Hi." He replied shyly.

"Man of many words like his Dad huh?" Leon added. "It's cool. We got the rest of the week and all weekend to get to know each other."

"Is that Ben and Jerry's?" Lindsay asked noticing the discarded bags on the floor.

"Shit. I forgot about the ice cream." Letty quickly gathered the bags and brought them to the kitchen. Zan followed her in with the take out bags. "Five bucks."

"Can't I get a reprieve? Kinda short."

Zan smiled. "If I don't have to go to Amber's party I could look past it."

She shook her finger. "Na uh. You're going."

The boy rolled his eyes. "I don't think we got enough food."

Letty looked around she got take out enough for three. "Mia!" She shouted.

"What?" Mia popped her head in the kitchen.

"What are we gonna feed Leon and Lindsay?"

Mia looked in the refrigerator, "I guess I could whip some left overs and we can have a smörgåsbord?" She suggested.

"What's a smörgåsbord?"

"It's a little of everything." Mia told Zan as she pulled stuff from the refrigerator. She smelled a Tupperware container. "When was the last time we had meatloaf?"

Zan held his nose closed. "I don't think it's meatloaf."

They all sat around the table Mia out the various foods she had prepared plus Letty's take out. Leon took a seat next to Letty. "So Leon how'd you meet, Lindsay?" Mia asked sitting down at the head of the table.

"Lindsay tells it better." Leon reached in to take the some chicken.

Letty slapped his hand. "You know the rules."

Everyone laughed. Lindsay looked at bit lost. "What rule?."

"The first one to reach for the food says grace." Zan explained. "It's my Dad's dumb rule." He grabbed some chicken fried rice and put it on his plate.

Letty gave him a look and the boy didn't look apologetic. He had been developing an attitude lately and Letty wasn't going to have any of it. "Why don't you say grace." She told her son.

Zan rolled his eyes and bowed his head. "Dear heavenly father, thank you for the leftovers Aunt Mia made and the take out Mom bought. Amen."

Everyone looked up and started filling their plates with left overs and take out. "Lindsay you need to tell us the story of how you guys meet." Mia said between bites.

"Oh, well Leon worked across the street from my bar. He would come in every day and order a corona with lime."

Letty patted him on his back. "That's my boy."

Lindsey continued her story. "One night these guys were giving me a hard time and Leon came to my rescue."

"That's our Sir Leoncelot night in shinning armor." Letty teased.

"I remember saving your ass a time or two."

"What? Don't try to show off cause your girl is here. Two words...Purple Sock."

Leon covered Letty's mouth with his hands. "Shut it."

Lindsey leaned into Mia. "Are they always like this?"

Mia nodded. "Worst."

They all continued to eat, laugh, and reminisce about the good times. Zan and Leon had left the table once Lindsey and Mia starting about what he had called "woman talk." After five minutes Letty joined the boys in the living room playing video games.

Letty walked in front of the television.

"Mom, move." Zan swayed trying to get a view of the television.

"What?"

"Move your ass, Letty." Leon waived her off trying to keep focus on the game he was playing.

She took a spot on the couch and immediately Runner nuzzled next to her. She watched as Leon and Zan battled each other in Mario Kart. Zan who always had to be Yoshi was a few laps behind Leon. But after he crashed his Lugi Zan managed to pull ahead and win. Letty laughed because she knew that Leon would demand a rematch, because he hated to loose.

As the boys began their new game Letty felt her pocket buzz. Pulling out the phone she noted that it was Brian. She hadn't checked in the last couple of days. Between her and Mia's fight, Zan's play, and getting ready of Leon's visit she didn't have the time. She hit ignore and slid the phone back in her pocket and went back to enjoying watching the boys play.

Mia and Lindsay were still in the dinning room. Letty was pretty sure that Mia was trying to convince Lindsey to get Leon and her to move to L.A. Mia could be very persuasive when it counted the most.

_Letty was pulled out from underneath the Lexus she was working on. "What?" She snapped. She looked around and saw Mia and the rest of the guys from the garage all standing around. _

"_What's this about you not going to school?" Mac asked with his arms crossed. Mac owned the garaged along with Francis Toretto._

_Letty rolled her eyes. "You told them?" Her questioned directed at Mia._

"_Yes, because you needed some sense knocked into you."_

_Letty stood up. She had decided that college wasn't in the cards for her anymore. The last month had been tough for her. First Francis died, then Dom got sent away to Lompac, and she was staring down college in two weeks. College was Francis and her Abuelita's dream for her. She was content working in the garage._

"_This ain't like you to cut and run." Vince added. "You're better than this place. You should be designing flying cars and shit not doing oil changes on granny's station wagon."_

_She leaned against the Lexus. "Mia you're not going back to school."_

_Mia nodded her head. "Yes I am. I'm just taking a semester off."_

"_Well why can't I just take four years off."_

"_Cause Frankie wanted you to go to school." Mac told her. "He was proud of you, girl. You should of seen him walking round here. Talking bout you to anyone who would listen."_

_Mia laughed. "Dad had four kids... Dom, me, Vince, and you." Mia handed her some papers._

"_What's this?"_

"_Dad's recommendation that he wrote for you. You should read it. Then make your decision." _

_Letty threw down Francis's recommendation on the kitchen counter. "You're such a brat."_

_Mia just looked at her with an angelic face. "I got you to change your mind didn't I."_

"_I can't believe you got Mac and the boys to back you up."_

"_They want to see you go to school too."_

_Letty rolled her tongue in her mouth. "You gonna be ok?"_

"_Yeah, Vince is moving in."_

_Letty arched a brow. Mia threw a dish towel at her. "To help out around the house."_

"_What if I suck at it?"_

"_You won't."_

The phone buzzed again, but this time it was Remy. Letty excused herself taking Runner and went outside.

"Hey."

"Koreatown 2 o'clock." Was all he said before the phone went dead.

She then dialed the seven numbers that held her family's life in the balance.

"Jesus Letty I've been calling you all night."

"Sorry, I've been busy."

"Yeah?" There was a sign of hope in his voice.

"No they didn't contact me yet. But, Remy called and said that there are some major players coming out tonight and I should show my face."

There was a pregnant pause. "Maybe it's a good thing that they didn't call."

"Really?" There was annoyance in her voice. She was growing tired of this back and forth battle she was having. Every time she pulled up to that line she question her reasons for getting involved with the FBI. She told herself that it was for her son and Mia, but there was a part of her that wanted to do it for purely selfish reasons. She missed Dom. She missed the way he kissed the nape of her neck every morning. She missed his throaty laugh and the way he smiled at her. She missed his gentle side which only came out when dealing with his son. Letty was kidding herself she just missed his sheer presence. Now Brian was seconding guessing her choice.

"Look can we meet up? There some things that I need to tell you."

Letty turned to see the patio door open and Leon emerging out lighting a cigarette.

She quickly hung the phone up and shoved it back in her pocket.

"Booty call?" Leon asked with a raised brow.

"Mia send you out here?" She asked with an accusatory tone.

He shook his head. "Tired of your son whooping my ass."

Leon took a long drag of his cigarette.

"You still smoke?"

He let out small circles of smoke. "You sound like Lindsay. She's been trying to get me to quit."

Letty climbed on top of the picnic table sitting in the middle Indian style. It was dusk and the fireflies began their dance out side. Runner happily chased after the balls of floating light trying to catch one. It was one of those nights she took for grated back then. She looked at Leon and smiled. "You know Mia's in there trying to talk Lindsey into you guys moving out here."

He took a short puff. "Yeah it wouldn't be the worst idea Mia had."

"Yeah?"

He sat beside her. He flicked his cigarette to the ground. Runner curiously sniffed it the deciding that it was nothing interesting went back to chasing fireflies. "You need your Jimmy cricket."

"I'm a big girl Leon."

"I know that. It's just these rumors I've been hearing that got me worried."

Letty was intrigued she wondered what the hell Leon could of heard of all the way on the other side of the country.

"That someone from the old team is racing again. Making a name for themselves kicking ass of these youngsters in a Plymouth Roadrunner."

"Can't believe everything you hear." She replied with a devilish grin.

"Uh huh." He wasn't buying it.

Mia interrupted them. "Hey guys." She joined them on the picnic table sitting on the bottom. "So where you guys staying?" She asked Leon with a sweet angelic face.

Leon chuckled. "Here."

"See Lindsay that's all you have to do." She shouted to the other woman standing in the door frame. "Leon's a push over for big puppy dog eyes."

Letty stood back and watched Leon try to gain some pride back by playing again with Zan. Mia and Lindsay were on the couch watching. She remembered how incredibly hard it was for her after he left. She had to be the rock for her and Dom. He was really bad off, after Leon left. All she had wanted then was the companionship of a good friend. Someone to listen to her, a shoulder for her to lean on. And now that she had him back in her life, he was just another person she had to lie to.

* * *

Blushing, thanks for all the reviews and I'm glad you guys are liking it so far. Thought I do a little mid week posting cause the weekend looking a bit busy, but I wanted to do something. You guys are the best.

andrea- Yeah I'm not a big fan of flashbacks either, but here they took a life of their own.

PrincessCheese- I'm a little slow on the uptake, I'm guessing the M-Rod forum is Michelle Rodriguez's site? I'll try to get it over there.

Running-Wild22- Right now Vince is hiding out in Canada in my story. I've been tooling around if I want him to make an appearance and if so how.

Tonya :)


	15. Chapter 15

Letty went to check on Zan to say goodnight. She found him on the floor with his matchbook car collection out.

"Whatcha got there?" She asked taking a seat next to him on the floor.

"Uncle Han sent them." He held out two replicas one of a blue Dodge Challenger and a white '69 Cadillac Sedan Deville. There were only two things in this world that Zan cherished most, his surf board and the other was his matchbook car collection. He had developed a large collection thanks to his father. Dom had gotten him his first car on Zan's first birthday. He had searched all over the Mexico trying to find the toy Charger. Every birthday since Dom had bought him a Charger in a different color to go with his collection except this past birthday. "He sent some money and a card too. I think he thought it was my birthday."

Letty laughed. "Han would forget his head if it wasn't attached to him."

_College had proven much harder than Letty had anticipated. She actually had to work at it unlike high school were she just showed up and got an A. She had a major project due earlier that day and her idiot partner forgot to show up. Mechanics came to Letty like breathing, she just did it, just don't ask her how. The how was Han's job. He was supposed to hand in their written report which was half of their grade and he forgot to show up. Letty knocked on the door of room 126. It belonged to her mechanics partner Han Lue. No correction her former mechanics partner because she was going to kill him. She had to knock harder because the music was pumping shaking the door. Her fist were beginning to hurt. Then a guy with a wide smiled opened the door. "Hey." was all he said._

"_Han here?"_

_The guy laughed. "Yeah." He pointed back into the dorm room. She brushed by him to find Han sitting on a green bean bag chair with a girl in one hand and beer in the other._

"_Letty what's up girl?" He said with a chester cat grin._

"_Umm did you forget we had our Mechatronics_ _project for Wheton today!"_

_Han ran his hand though his hair. "That was today?"_

_Letty huffed and pulled down his calender. "Yes it was today. I wrote it down so you wouldn't forget. All you had to do was come to class and hand in the report... I thought you finished the paper three days ago?"_

"_Four actually."_

"_Jesus, Han." Was all Letty said as she stormed out of his room._

Zan let out a soft laugh. "Yeah, at least he sent something."

Letty let out a deep breath. She was a little hurt herself that Dom didn't even send Zan anything for his birthday. She had thought about going and buying him a gift and saying it was from his father, but she had faith in Dom. She believed that he wouldn't let his son down.

"I'm sure where ever your Dad is that he's missing you."

"Then why did he leave if he was going to miss me?" He snapped back. He wiped the tears that started to fall from his face. "I hate him." He climbed into his bed and pulled the covers over his head.

Letty crawled in next to him. He burred his head in her lap. "It's not fair." He mumbled.

"I know." She stroked his back until he cried himself to sleep.

She slowly got out of bed with Zan and cleared up his cars. And pulled the covers over him kissing him on the head. "Usted es mi corazón." She whispered in his ear.

"Te amo también, Mom."

She quietly closed the door to his room.

Letty joined Mia next room where she was preparing the guest room for Leon and Lindsay. "How is he?" Mia asked putting clean sheets on the bed.

"I dunno." She shrugged. Letty was never the maternal type, that was Mia. Mia took care of the house, made sure they had clean underwear, and ate green leafy vegetables. Letty was one of the boys, she fought, swore, and sweat with them. She didn't have one inch of mother in her and when she found out she was pregnant she was scared shitless. But when see saw her son for the first time all her fears vanished. But now for the first time she was doubting herself. Her son was hurting and there wasn't anything she could do about it.

"_Dom!" Letty said shaking him. "Dom." She called again. He just bated her away and pulled the covers over his head. _

"_Get the fuck up Dom." She yanked the covers off of him._

"_What!" He snapped._

"_My water broke."_

_Dom grumbled and got out bed. With zombie like motion he pulled on some sweat pants and shoes. He was headed out the door._

"_Where you going?"_

"_Store to get you more water." He mumbled._

_Letty just looked at him. Dom could be pretty dense when he just woken up. "Dom, no my water broke." She said indicating her belly._

_It took a moment for it to sink it. "Shit, Letty."_

"_Yeah, this kid is coming."_

_They were living in Santa Rosalía in Baja during the last months of Letty's pregnancy. They were driving when Letty saw the city's sign. She told Dom this is where she wanted to have to baby. He protested that they find a larger city with better hospitals. But she insisted the city shared the same name as her Abueltia and if she couldn't have her with her at least she could be in a city that had the same name. She had taken to the city she liked the French influences on the Mexican city. _

_Dom had called the mid wife from the apartment that they shared and told her that they were on their way. Letty was quiet in the car, breathing slowly._

"_You ok, baby?" Dom asked shifting his focus between the road and her._

"_I don't want to be like my mother."_

"_You won't be."_

"_You don't know that."_

_He placed a hand on her thigh. "You're nothing like her, Let. You stick around and fight."_

_She winced in pain._

"_Contraction?"_

_Letty nodded. She closed her eyes and held on to Dom's hand. Being like her mother was her biggest fear. Her mother was there one day and gone the next without so much as a good bye._

"_¿Hasta dónde son las contracciones?" The warm female voiced asked Letty._

"_No sé."_

"_Dominic, Ayúdeme a salir Leticia del coche." The woman ordered Dom._

_He justed looked at her. His Spanish was horrible._

"_She said help me out the car." Letty snapped. "You really need to work on your Spanish."_

_Dom let her attitude slide because she was having his child. He helped her inside of Maria the mid-wife's house._

_Dom knew that Letty could swear, but he never seen her swear in Spanish and English with such a variety. He just held her hand and dabbed her head with the cool cloth like he was ordered to. After more swearing and tears Letty was holding her son. He was the most beautiful thing Letty had ever seen. He was eleven inches and eight and half pounds of perfection._

"_How bout Alexander?"_

_Dom laughed. "I like it. Alexander the Great."_

_Letty rolled her eyes. "I was thinking about Alexander Vincent."_

"_Vincent? Something you not telling me?"_

_She laughed slightly "No, it's just it's V's birthday today too. And I dunno it just feels right."_

_He kissed her on the crown of her head. "Alexander Vincent it is."_

_Letty held her son and hoped to God she wouldn't let him down._

Mia patted down the sheets and tossed Letty the pillows. "You're a good mother, Let."

"Sometimes I don't think so."

Mia looked at her. She had never known Letty to ever second guess herself. She was one of the most confident people that Mia knew. Some people took Letty's self confidence as bitchiness, but that wasn't the case. To those who knew and loved Letty her self confidence was what drove them to be better people. "You're a great mother. That kid adores you." Mia tried to reassure her. "I've seen how you two are like together. His face lights up when you come home from work because he's excited to tell you how his day went. His favorite thing to do is go surfing with you at the crack of dawn. You're whole world is wrapped up in his happiness." Mia looked in her eyes. "You're a great mom."

Letty smiled. "Thanks."

Lindsay and Mia had called it a night leaving Leon and Letty alone. The duo sat and watched television, well Leon watched the TV Letty watched her watch. She was hoping that Leon would go to bed soon so she could leave and go to the races. But he didn't show any signs of tiredness.

"Got somewhere to go?" Leon asked her. "Been looking at that watch all night."

Letty pulled her knees to her chin. "No."

"So who were you talking to earlier?"

"No one."

"No one doesn't so happen to be Hector's nephew?"

Letty turned to him.

Leon laughed. "How'd I know? I told you girl I got my sources." He got up and turned the television off. "So when we riding out?"

* * *

Translations

Usted es mi corazón- you're my heart

Te amo también- I love you too

Hasta dónde son las contracciones- how far are the contractions

No sé- I don't know

* * *

Hey gang, it's a shortie but promise there will be some "action" to come. Thanks for the love.

Tonya


	16. Chapter 16

Brian tried calling Letty for the fifth time. He was getting angry that she wasn't picking up and for the fifth time he left a message. "Letty call me back."

He ran his fingers through his hair, the case was stalling out and his bosses were beginning to doubt that Letty would be able to pull it off.

"You know for a guy who looks like you, you suck when it comes to women." Trinh said handing him a coffee.

"Well Letty isn't your typical woman." Brian said blowing on his hot coffee.

_Brian came down from the bathroom and noticed that everyone was gone except Letty. She was sitting alone watching the television. He didn't let the absence of people rain on his parade, he was pretty excited how the night had played out. He was getting in the good graces of Dominic Toretto which meant that he was one step closer to figuring out who was responsible for hijacking the trucks. _

"_Where did everyone go?" He asked sitting beside her._

"_Outside."_

_Letty wasn't much of a talker at least she didn't talk to him. She was a hard one to figure out. He considered himself somewhat of a ladies man. But Letty was a horse of a different color._

"_So what we watching?" He asked trying to break the awkwardness he was feeling. This was the first time he was left alone with her._

"_Them."_

_He had no idea what she was talking about. He watched a bit of the movie. "Is that an ant?"_

_Letty laughed. "Yeah they're mutated." She cracked up more as an giant ant attacked another person._

_He looked at the door._

"_I wouldn't go out there." She warned._

"_Why not?"_

"_V, Dom, and Mia are out there. V thinks that you're a cop." Letty paused the black and white horror movie. And turned her attention to Brian. "Mia's my girl and if she likes you then I'll tolerate you. But V got a sense about these things and if you turn out to be a cop, Dom will be the least of your worries." She un paused the movie and continued watching._

She sat on top of his desk. "Did you hear?"

Brian took a sip of his coffee. "Hear what?"

"They found another dead racer. Some guy who went by the name of Spider."

Brain sat up, he remembered Letty talking about a guy named Spider that she raced the first night. "Did he have a spider neck tattoo?"

Trinh nodded. "Yeah, why?"

Brian quickly grabbed his jacket and ran to the door. If Letty wasn't going to talk to him he was going to have to go to her.

* * *

Letty checked on Zan one last time before going out the door. Leon was leaning against her jeep with smoking a cigarette. "You know those things will kill you." She told him getting into the jeep.

"We all die sometime."

Letty started the car, but before she pulled off she had to asked Leon how he figured out what she was doing. "So..."

"My job was scrubbing the scanners Let, I just know how to listen." He laughed. "Some guy came into Lindsay's bar driving a green and gray Supra with Cali plates. He was talking about how he got his ass handed to him by some chick in a Roadrunner."

Letty laughed. She knew the car. "Eddie. I raced him my second night. Guy couldn't handle his car."

"Well I only know of one person who can soup up a muscle car and have the skills to drive it."

Letty smiled. "I do have mad skills."

They pulled into Harry's garage. The lights were on. Letty tensed up there was only one person who would be at the garage at this time of night. "Shit."

"You expecting someone?" Leon asked.

Before she could explain to Leon about anything Brian came out the door.

"Leon!" She barely got out his name when he flew out the jeep and his fist went straight into Brian's gut. "Leon stop!" She yelled trying to pull him off of Brian.

All Leon saw was red. He wanted to beat the shit out of Brian Spillner. He was a liar and a cop two things he hated and now he needed to bruised beyond recognition.

Letty found an opening to step in between the two men. "Leon stop."

He was heaving heavily. "What the fuck Letty! What's the cop doing here?"

She looked Brian over. "You ok?"

Brian spit out blood. "I'm cool. Look Leon..."

Leon lunged at him again but Letty blocked him before he could get to Brian. "Cool it will you?"

He brushed her off and began to paced.

"Hey Brian can you give us a minute?"

He nodded and headed back into the garage.

Letty dug her hands into her pocket and took a deep breath. She watched Leon pace trying to piece together the last few minutes.

"Mia said you were up to something. But fucking Spillner?" He got in her face. "What the fuck you thinking girl? That man's a cop."

"I know." She replied softly. "That's why I looked him up."

"You looked him up?"

"I just want him to come home." She confessed. Letty hadn't said the words out loud before, that she wanted Dom to come home. Not for Zan or Mia but for her. She missed him and wanted him back in her life.

Leon softened up and hugged her tight. "Damn girl."

Brian cleaned off his face. Leon had gotten in a few good punches. He looked at himself in the mirror and didn't like the man in the reflection. Spider was the second dead racer this month that they had found. The FBI was pretty sure that there was more bodies yet to be discovered. When Letty approached him and asked him for his help, that's all he wanted to do. He failed to tell her the bloody details. That Braga was a dangerous man and he had a trail of bodies connected to him. At the present moment he felt like shit for not telling her that fact. It was like he was back working as an undercover cop and lying the whole time. The line between friend and cop was blurred then and it was blurred now.

"O'Connor?" Letty's voice interrupted Brian's pity party. Then there was a knock on the other side of the bathroom door. He opened the door.

Letty winced Leon had did a number on Brian's face. "You alright?"

"I'll live. I thought Vince could box."

"Yeah Leon was a feather weight back in the day."

Leon still fuming lit a cigarette. Letty was bad for his health. Ever since the racer guy showed up in Lindsey's bar he couldn't help but worry about her. Letty had the biggest heart and the girl loved with her whole body. And that was what scared him. She would do anything for the people she loved no questions asked.

_Dom paced the bedroom he was stressed. The deal with Tran had gone bad real bad. Now he was stuck between a rock and hard place. Plus he slept with his sister. "I don't know what to do." He confessed to Letty. "He won't let this go."_

_Letty sat on his bed. Dom had always been so sure of himself and now he was a nervous wreck. She ran her tongue over her teeth. She should have known introducing Dom to Tran would have turned out badly, but Dom wanted to make some quick money and Letty knew that Tran dabbled in illegal activities that could get him the money. _

_Letty had meet Tran the day she moved into her dorm room freshman year. His sister Amie was her roommate. Amie was a sweet girl, but a bit of a slut. She slept with anything. Letty was kind of pissed when she found out that Dom and slept with her and thought he deserved all the crap the was going through. But the team didn't deserve the wrath of Johnny Tran and from what Letty had learned from Amie her brother was pretty volatile._

"_Why don't you get some sleep and try talking to him in the morning." She suggested in a not so suggesting tone. She got up and took his hand and lead him to the bed._

_After five minutes after they had sex Dom was out like a light. Letty got up and dressed. She knew that there was only one way to fix things with Tran and Dom._

_She opened the door and was greeted by they boys._

"_Taking the walk of shame?" Vince asked._

"_Whatever." She pushed by him and got into her car. She drove down to her house. Quietly she went to her room and started digging around after an hour of searching she found what she was looking for. She pulled out her cell. "Johnny, it's Letty we need to meet. Yeah I know the place. See you in five."_

_Letty got outside and found Leon, Jesse and Vince sitting on the hood of her car. "What you thinking?" Vince asked. _

"_You mind getting off my car."_

"_I know you girl. I don't like the look in your eyes." Leon said._

_She huffed. "I'm gonna fix this."_

_Vince slid off. "You ain't doing shit. Tran not cuddly like me."_

"_I can handle him."_

_Vince took the keys from her. "Not without us."_

_Reluctantly she followed them to Vince's car. They all walked into Tran's family restaurant. Johnny and Lance were sitting in the booth like they were in a scene in the Godfather movies. _

"_Leticia what a pleasure." Johnny said sweetly. "And I see you brought friends."_

"_Can we talk alone?"_

_Leon protested. "We ain't leaving you alone with him."_

"_It's fine. Johnny."_

_He gestured for her to follow. Johnny opened the door to the office. Letty looked around it donned pictures of the Tran family. One picture in particular caught her eye. It was a picture of her and Amie their fist day at school. _

"_Now that you got me alone..."_

"_I want you to drop this thing with Dom."_

_Johnny laughed. "Oh you do, do you? And what are you going to do in return, for this act of kindness?"_

_Letty noticed the VCR sitting in the corner. "This thing work?"_

_Johnny nodded. "I didn't bring any popcorn."_

_She stuck in the video. All the smugness disappeared from Johnny Tran's face. "Where'd you get this?"_

"_Amie and I went to this party freshman week. I lost track of her at the party. A few weeks later I heard these rumors about how these guys gang bang this Asian chick and taped it. It took a while but I got the tape. Amie doesn't know about this and she doesn't have to. Drop this thing with Dom."_

"_You black mailing me?I thought you and Amie were friends."_

"_It's nothing personal I'm just protecting my family."_

_Johnny thought a moment. Letty wasn't worried. Johnny was like Dom when it came to his sister. He would do anything for her. "Fine. I'll drop this thing with Toretto. I want the tape destroyed."_

_She nodded. "After I get word from Dom that this thing is over. You get the tape."_

"_Deal."_

_Letty left the room feeling like crap. When she heard about the tape she had punched the guy who was talking about it until he told her who had it. Then when she found him she punched him also. Amie was her friend and Letty didn't have many girl friends. She felt like shit as betraying her by using the tape to blackmail Johnny._

_When they were outside the boys were on pins and needles wanting to know what happened._

"_Well?" Vince asked._

"_It's over." Was all she said._

She had filled him in on her arraignment with Brian and the FBI and he didn't like it. Letty had been known for doing stupid things when it came to dealing with Dom. After he cooled down some he decided to join Letty and Brian inside.

"Where's Letty?" Leon asked harshly.

Brian remained cool. "She went to get some ice from the break room."

Leon stood silent sizing the other man up. He knew what Brian did for Dom, but he still didn't mean he had to like him.

"I won't let anything happen to her. I care about her." Brian told him flatly. It was the truth he had Letty's back.

"You care about her like you cared about Mia?"

"That was different, man."

Leon didn't look confidence. "How so?"

Brian got in Leon's face. "My feelings for Mia were real. I never lied about that."

Leon scoffed.

"Look Letty came to me to help. And I want to help her."

"It doesn't make up for what you did by getting her killed."

"I'm not going to let that happen."

The men stood toe to toe neither backing down. They both cared about Letty and didn't want anything to happen to her. Letty was one of Leon's closest, oldest friends. She was his yin to her yang. She could be hot temper while Leon always played it cool. She was his sister. Now standing in front of Brian, Leon was regretting his decision about leaving her in Baja. He should of dragged her by her hair and took her with him. Then maybe she wouldn't be pulling this crazy stunt.

Brian could see the anger and resentment in Leon's eyes and he couldn't blame him. He lied to all of them. But on the other hand he was doing his job and they weren't exactly innocent. The line somewhere along the way had gotten blurred back then. But now Brian was beginning to see things clearly and could separate the job and his friendship with Letty. His job was to make sure Letty got Dom back and if she so happened to help bring down a drug cartel leader then that would be a bonus.

Letty came back with the ice for Brian's face and Leon's hands. She forgot how bad a punch Leon could throw if provoked. She found the men looking like they wanted to kill each other. Letty rolled her eyes. "You guys gonna whip it out to see who's bigger?" She handed them both an ice bag.

Leon chuckled and put the ice on his hand.

"What are you doing here?" She asked Brian.

He leaned against his car. "You hung up on me." He pushed off of it getting closer to Letty. "You can't do that."

"Worried?" She said jokingly.

Brian sucked this teeth. "Letty, Braga isn't the type of guy you play around with."

Letty was getting angry. "What's going on Brian?" She said crossing her arms. "How come all of a sudden you're changing your tune. I thought you wanted this guy."

"I do, but not if getting Braga means you getting hurt."

Letty's phone buzzed. "Hey what's up? Yeah I'm coming." She hung the phone up. "We gotta go." She motioned for Leon to get into the Roadrunner. Before she got into the car. "It's all good, O' Conner." She said with a wicked smiled.

* * *

I know I said there would be "action" but it's not the way it played out. Letty will race trust me, but I want to set it up properly. As always thanks for reviewing it's always nice to know you're doing something people like. Hope everyone has a safe and happy Labor Day!

Tonya


	17. Chapter 17

The ride was quiet. Letty could tell that Leon was trying to figure out what to say to her. He nervously tapped his cigarette pack against the side of the door. "What?" Letty finally asked tired of the silence.

"He's right you know. This ain't gonna be worth shit if you end up dead."

"Leon."

"You got to think this through, girl. The way Brian talking about this Braga guy he don't sound like a cupcake."

"I can handle this." She told him.

Leon huffed and pulled out another cigarette. He rolled down the window to get some air. "That's the problem." He flicked out the ashes out side the window and took another long drag. "You think that you got a handle on the situation, but it's really got a hold of you." Leon exhaled a puff of smoke. "You're a pit bull, Let. You grab hold of something and don't let go."

"_Jess keep look out." Letty told him getting out of her car. He climbed in the front in the empty driver's seat._

"_Let it go Letty." Leon warned. "This ain't good for business." He said getting out the car. "Dom said let it be."_

"_Dom may got you by the short and curlys but he doesn't dictate my life." _

_Leon sighed and followed her inside the night club. "Why can't you let it go? It's not like you need the money."_

_Letty turned on her heels and glared at Leon. "You think its about the fucking money?"_

_Leon ran his fingers through his hair. "It's about respect, Leon. If he thinks that he can walk all over me because I'm a women he has another thing coming to him."_

_Leon shook his head, there was no stopping her now. He just needed to make sure that she didn't kill Edwin._

He tossed the butt outside. "But, this time..." He turned and looked at her. "you should."

Letty didn't meet his eyes, because if she did there was a chance that she would turn around and go back home. "I can't."

She pulled into the address that Remy had given to her earlier. To the regular eye the night would have seemed normal for races. Girls grinding to the music wearing next to nothing, guys flashing their souped up imports. But as Letty got out the car she couldn't help feel that there was something different in the air.

"We find Remy." She searched the crowd for Hector's vibrate nephew. After a few minutes she found him talking to a woman. She wasn't like the other skanks at the races. She was dressed like she stepped off a runway with her all white cat suit that clung to every curve of her body.

"Usted ahora que engaña en mí?"

"Nunca , Ma." He hugged Letty.

"I'll talk to you later Remelle." Racer Barbie said planting a kiss on his cheek.

Letty smiled arching her eyebrow. "Remelle?"

"You take that to your grave." He joked. "Whose this?" He asked pointing at Leon.

"This is my boy Leon."

"Leon from your old crew?"

"Yeah."

Remy bumped fist with him. "Tio said you ran scanners."

"Yeah." Leon looked around. "Who you have running scanners tonight? I didn't see any streets blocked off."

Remy gave him a nervous smile. "That's because we won't be needing them tonight."

Both Leon and Letty looked at him like he was crazy. "How do we suppose to race if the streets aren't blocked off?" Letty asked.

"We're mixing it up a bit tonight."

Leon shook his head. "Are you crazy? Racing through the busy streets of LA going 100 or more?" He grabbed Letty by the arm. "You ain't doing this." He said sternly.

She gave him a wide, bright, mischievous smile. "Remy find me when the festivities start." She hooked her arm around Leon's. "C'mon I want you to meet someone."

She found her someone underneath the hood of her car. Leon was about to say something, when Letty stopped him. "Doogie, what's up man?" She patted the kid on the back.

Doogie turned to greet her. He had a busted lip and a black eye.

"What happen?"

He blushed. "I ran into my father's fist." He half joked. "How'd you like the mods I did with the Roadrunner?"

Letty had taken to Doogie since the first night. He wanted to some modifications to the Roadrunner to give it more speed. Letty was happy to obliged the kid because reminded her of Jesse how he would get excited over shiny engines.

_When Letty walked into the garage she caught Jess in the arms of Dom. _

"_I love you man!" Jesse said with a grin. "I mean it. I really love you."_

_Letty coughed to make herself known. "Should I be worried?"_

_Dom shook his head and went back to work. She walked in further to see what all the excitement was all about. She let out a low whistle. "Damn."_

"_Ain't it beautiful?" Jesse said admiring the shiny silver engine that was on the floor. "I'm think of naming her Clementine." He stroked the engine fondly. _

"_You planning on making love with it?" Letty joked._

"_Oh I've got things planned for her." He grabbed Letty's wrist and dragged her to his computer. "You know that GTO you got from the auction?" She nodded. "Well, this is what I was thinking." He showed her his designs._

"_Damn, Jess this is some good shit." She said with a smile. "But what if you put..." Letty began clicking away at the computer re doing some of Jesse's plans. _

_He gasped. "Oh shit. I didn't think of that." He scratched his head. Then the light bulb went off in his head and he punched Letty in the arm. "We can put the valve here..."_

_Dom made his way to the shop. He had his orders from Mia to bring Letty and Jesse home for what she liked to call family time. Which meant a night of food, board games, and laughter. For the last couple of weeks Jesse and Letty had been joined at the hip. They had been working the '69 GTO that Letty had won at an auction. She had fell in love with the heap of metal at first sight. Jesse had fell in love with Clementine the engine and ways he could push her limits. _

_Dom coughed making his presence known to the duo. Jesse jumped slightly and Letty just turned slowly rolling her eyes in the process. "Wrap it up you two Mia's orders."_

_Jesse pulled up from the chair. Letty tilted her head fixing her eyes on Dom. "We're not done yet." She told him._

"_It's ok Letty. I'm hungry anyway." Jesse said grabbing his coat. He walked by Dom leaving him and Letty alone._

_Letty still stood leaning against the desk and Dom not moving with his arms crossed. "Should I be worried?" _

_She pushed off the desk walking towards him eyes fixed on him. "After we fix her up. Me and Jesse thought we ride out into the sunset together. Maybe go to Tijuana, Cozumel somewhere with a beach and shack up. Then I thought I might pop out a couple kids, white picket fence, dog. " _

"_Is that so?" Dom inched closer to her. He grabbed her waist and pulled her into him. "Is there anything I can do to persuade you to stick by me?"_

_Letty tilted her head to the side and grinned. "Maybe."_

"_Maybe?" Dom laughed and kissed her. _

He defiantly had the same skill set as the mad scientist may be better. "Haven't had the chance. Tonight's gonna be the first night running it."

"What? No Letty tonight not a good time to run the Roadrunner with new mods you haven't tested out. You heard what Remy got planned for tonight?"

"He's got a point." Leon added. "If he put new stuff in the car, you shouldn't run it."

She rolled her eyes. "Leon this is Doogie Howser." She introduced them switching the subject.

"It's actually Austin." He blushed shaking Leon's hand.

"Doogie got mad skills when it comes to engines. Mad scientist type skills."

"Mad scientist skills?" Leon had to take a look to see what kind of stuff this guy put under Letty's car. He took a look and a low whistle escaped from his lips. "No shit. You did all this?" Leon marveled over the modifications done to Letty's car.

Doogie ran his fingers through his hair. "I didn't do much, Letty did most of the work I just added stuff here and there."

"Add stuff here and there. You hear him. Kid did a lot more than that. Did some shit I wouldn't even think of."

"Hey, Letty." A sweet voiced called.

"Sasha what's up girl?"

Normally Sasha had a sultry smile plastered on her face. Trying to convince Letty to "play" as she called it. But tonight she had a sullen look on her face.

"Did you hear?"

"Hear what?"

"Spider was murdered. They found him last night with a bullet in his chest."

"Damn for real?"

"Yeah. It's weird Spider wasn't the first racer to be found with a bullet in him."

Letty furrowed her brow. She took Sasha away from Leon and Doogie who were busy looking at the Roadrunner.

"What do you mean he's not the first racer?"

"About a week before you showed up a guy named Jimmy Rose. He was a pretty good racer a hellava lot better than Spider. He showed up dead near the Mexican boarder."

Letty let what Sasha was telling her sink in. Then it hit her, Brian's sudden 180. He knew about Spider and she was pretty sure he already knew about Jimmy Rose.

"Letty you're up!" Remy shouted.

She took in a long breath. "Talk to you later girl."

Sasha kissed Letty on the cheek. "Good luck."

She got in the car and tried to ignore the worried expressions on Leon and Doogie's faces and focus on the task at hand.

She pulled up to the line. Racer Barbie tapped on her window. "Do you have the GPS unit?"

Letty pulled it out of the glove box and handed it to her. She inputed some information and handed it back to her. "Just follow the directions to the finish line."

Letty noticed in the distance the black guy with the Mohawk who gave her the unit talking to Remy. Remy had a scared shitless expression on his face. Leon was right, these people definitely weren't cupcakes.

"Vaya con dios."

Letty took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She had to get her head clear if she was going to pull of the craziness she had to focus. The screeching of tires told her it was time to go.

"Go 1.3 miles and turn right." The female GPS voice directed. So far the race had proven to be more difficult than Letty had thought. Even though it was 2:30AM it might of well have been 5PM rush hour traffic. She had to dodge several cars and she was sure the race wasn't going to end anytime soon. She turned at the indicted corner. She hit it a lot fasted than any sane person. In order to gain control she had th drift the corner clipping a park car. Horns sounded as Letty continued on task. "Go straight .6 miles then turn left." Using her peripheral vision she spotted another racer closing in on her. She drifted the the left turn. The other driver over corrected sending him into a light pole. She kept focus.

"Go straight 2.4 miles and then bare left." Letty was approaching a light she saw the yellow light dip to black and change to red. She had no other choice, she had to gun it. After dodging some irate LA drivers she managed to evade an accident. But another one of her opponents wasn't as lucky as a SUV T-boned the car. "Go 3.2 miles and your destination will be on your left." Letty did a mental check of drivers. She recalled that there were five racers including herself. She subtracted the light pole and the red light drivers. Which meant that there were at least two more drivers. One of the two drivers pulled in on her. He hit the NOS once again Letty's experienced driving proved to her advantage. He propelled forward. He was going so fast that he didn't notice the garbage truck backing out of an alley and he hit it head on. She adverted the accident and crossed the finish line.

Her driver side door opened. "You alright?"

Letty was gripping the steering wheel so tight that her knuckles had turned white. Leon peeled her hands off the steering wheel. "C'mon girl."

Her legs felt weak underneath her like she was drunk. Letty was a good driver she drove just as fast and furious as any other man, but this was different. She had pulled this out of no where. It was grace that she didn't get herself killed or anyone else.

Doogie handed her a bottle water. "That was some crazy shit. They had cameras around the course. Shit the way you drifted that corner. Where you learned to do that?"

Letty took a long drink of water gathering her nerves. Then she gave him a devilish smile. "My boy Han."

_The semester had ended and Letty was thankful. She was caring a full load of classes. She wanted to be done with school as fast as possible. Han wanted to celebrate the end of the semester so he took Letty out. They pulled up in an empty parking garage._

"_I thought we were going to races?" Letty asked him. Han was like Letty when it came to cars. Most of her classmates wanted to make cars that were innovative, modern. The only thing Letty wanted to do was make them faster._

"_Not quite." Han said smiling. They got out the car. Letty could hear the faint sound of music blaring. They turned the corner and saw a line of cars. _

_She gave him a quizzical look. "Ya'll planning to race or valet park?" _

"_You'll see." He said tugging playfully at her shirt._

_Han introduced her to a couple of his friends and sat on their cars to watch the events. Drifting is what they called it. It was the craziest thing that Letty had seen. She was dying to try it._

"_So what do I do?" She slid into Han's car. She listened intently to Han explain how to drift . _

"_The Kanji technique." Han smiled. "So you hit the corner fast then you push on the brakes about 150 feet away, feint as little as possible, power over and clutch kick it, girl. Use handbrake and clutch-kick to increase angle and just drift." _

"_Ok I got this."_

_Han laughed. "Ok just don't fuck up my ride." He got out and let her do her thing._

_Letty hit the gas and picking up the speed. She hit the corner at about 50 and did what Han told her drifting the car around the corner. Letty squealed in delight, it was the most fun she had in a long time. She got out the car and jumped in Han's arms._

"_Damn if this is all it took to make you smile I would of showed you this a long time ago."  
_

Racer Barbie approached them. "That was some pretty impressive driving. I've never seen anyone drive with such grace." She handed Letty a cell phone. "We'll be contacting you." Letty smiled because she knew that she was in. She watched Racer Barbie get into the car with the black guy with the Mohawk and drive away.

* * *

Translations

¿Usted ahora que engaña en mí? - You cheating on me now.

Nuca- Never

Vaya con dios- Go with God

* * *

It feels like its been a while since I looked at this. Life I guess. Hope you enjoy the update and thanks for reviewing.

Tonya


	18. Chapter 18

Letty felt the adrenaline rush and she loved it. It had been a long time since she had the heady feeling of racing. The crowd began to encircle Letty with congratulations on her driving. Remy's face had changed to his normal vibrancy. "Damn, Ma!" He smiled handing her a wad of cash. "You just got my pockets fatter."

She stuck the cash in her back pocket. "Can I talk to you?"

He nodded and lead her over to less occupied area of the race track. "Who was the girl?"

Remy smiled. "Which one?"

"You know."

"Her name is Gisele."

"And?"

"Don't know much about her. Every once and awhile her and the black guy with the mohawk Fenix show up asking to whose who. Then take their pick of racers and hold one of these events to weed out the busters from the drivers."

Letty folded her arms. "Do you know who they work for?"

"Naw they're pretty much a mystery. Like I said they just show up."

"What do you know about the dead drivers?"

Remy was quiet. "Spider got the GPS a couple of weeks before you showed up. Your first race was the last time I saw him." He paused again. "He wasn't the first to come up dead."

"Jimmy Rose?"

"Yeah him. And this guy a while back named Trucker."

Letty let Leon drive back to the garage to get her jeep. She was too shook up by the nights events to drive. They didn't say a word to each other the whole trip.

"So this is the great plan." Leon slammed the Roadrunner's door.

Letty ruffled her hair. "Don't. I'm too tired to argue with you."

"Whose arguing?"

"If I don't do this then Dom's name won't be cleared."

"So he's name doesn't get cleared. Fuck Dom Letty."

She was about to protest when Leon stopped him. "He left you and that boy alone, Letty. You don't owe him a damn thing. Whose gonna take care of Zan if you end up dead? Mia would crack if something happened to you." He practically yelled at her.

"I just want him to come home."

He lit a cigarette and got into the jeep. Once again they drove in silence. Before they reached the door Letty turned to him. "It's like a piece of me is missing and it's killing me."

The last few hours spent with Leon she had confessed more to him than she has to anyone. It was hard for her to tell him how she felt about Dom and why she was doing this. She wasn't the share the feelings type of girl, she kept them close. The only other person who knew her inside and out was Dom.

_Dom and Letty laid together in post coital bliss This was a long time coming, they had danced around each other for months and finally they had consummated what they had been feeling for so long. _

"_What are you thinking about?" Dom asked. He tucked a stray hair behind Letty's ear._

"_What did we just do?"_

_Dom grinned. "Letty I thought this wasn't your first time."_

_She punched him in the arm. "Seriously, what are we doing?"_

_Dom pulled her on top of her chest. "I don't know. But it feels right, Let."_

_She sighed deeply. "I don't want to fuck up our friendship. I don't think I could handle that."_

"_We won't."_

"_So what now? We're a couple or something? Start going to sock hops, we carve our initials in a tree, Dom and Letty forever or some other crap."_

_Dom laughed and kissed her on the top of the head. "No we don't label this. Do what feels right."_

"_You know if Abuelita or your Dad finds out about this they're gonna kill us."_

_Dom kissed her again a little harder. "I guess I'm a dead man walking."_

He nodded and waited for her to open the front door. They both climbed the steps worn down by the nights events.

"Night, Let."

"Good night."

Letty hopped in the shower and washed off all her stress. She climbed in the bed next to her son. Zan was the best thing in her life. The kid had her heart in his hand. She stared at him as he slept watching him breathe until she joined him into slumber.

It was early and Letty was working on the Charger. Working on the car helped her think clearly. She heard soft footsteps enter the garage. She figured it was Mia to cuss her out about staying out all night.

"Mia not in the mood." She called.

"It's not Mia." Lindsay said softly.

Letty shut the hood of the car. "Lindsay."

"You guys were out pretty late." The other women strolled further into the garage. She looked around at the different tools and pictures that draped the walls.

"Don't be pissed at him. It was my fault. I dragged him around LA reminiscing."

"No I'm not mad. The opposite actually. I'm glad that you two had a chance to hang out." Lindsey picked up a tool and looked at it absently. "Leon's always been kinda sad. But since he got back here. It's like he's a different person. I've haven't seen him smile so much. I didn't even know he knew how to smile."

"I've missed him."

"I know. He's missed you and Mia also. I was nervous coming out to meet you guys. I wasn't sure that I could measure up."

Letty laughed. "The boy got it bad for you. He's never bought a girl back to the fort to meet us before. So the fact that he brought you says something."

Lindsay smiled. "Good to know." They were quiet again. "He's worried about you. I got him to stop smoking a year ago. Then some guy from LA comes to the bar and then he starts smoking again. Out of the blue he says he wants to come back to LA to introduce me to his family... I don't want to know what you guys really did last night, but whatever it was got him shaken up..."

Letty was prepared for Lindsay to cuss her out and tell her to leave Leon out of her mess, but instead the woman pulled her in an embrace. "Promise me that you'll be careful."

"Mom." Zan whimpered out. He entered the garage still in his pajamas. He had a thermometer in his mouth. "I don't feel well."

Right away Letty could tell that Zan was faking. He was like his father when he got sick. They both reverted back to infancy. Unable to do anything for themselves. So the fact that Zan had a thermometer in his mouth was a dead giveaway.

_Normally Letty loved her life. She had a great kid with the man she loved. They had a beautiful house by the beach and had good friends. But she would trade all that in just for a moment peace. Just one minute she could brush her teeth or take a shower. Dom and Zan both had the flu and unable to function._

"_Letty!" Dom whined. _

_Letty counted to three and went into the room. Dom and Zan were in bed together in the pajamas looking pathetic._

"_What!" She said a little more harshly than necessary._

"_Can you make me another sandwich?"_

"_What's wrong with the one you have?"_

"_You didn't cut the crust off."_

_Letty rolled her eyes. "Dom there no crust on the bread."_

_He shook his head. "You didn't cut the crust off. You peeled them off." He pointed to the jagged edges of the bread._

_Letty calmly took the plate from him. "Zan, can I get you anything?"_

"_Mom my soup too hot."_

_She took the bowl from him. "Ok, kiddo I'll get you another bowl." Letty turned to leave when Zan called out._

"_Mom."_

"_Yeah, Kiddo?"_

" _I love you."_

"_I love you too." Dom added._

"_Uh huh." _

Letty arched her eyebrow. "Come here let me see." Letty read the thermometer and it took everything in her not to bust out in laughter. She showed Lindsay the reading of the 110 temperature.

"Wow Letty that's a pretty high. I think you should let Mia check him out." Lindsay noted laughing a bit.

"I think you're right." Letty took his hand. "C'mon kiddo."

The trio entered the kitchen were Leon and Mia were drinking their morning coffee. Either of them couldn't function in the morning without their cup of coffee. "Morning." Lindsay gave Leon and quick kiss.

"Hey babe."

"Mia ,I think Zan has a fever." Letty told her.

Mia waived Zan over. "Come here, let me see." She felt his forehead. "It doesn't feel warm."

"You sure? I took my temperature." He handed her the thermometer.

Mia took at look at it. "Wow that's really high."

Letty leaned against the refrigerator with her arms cross amused. "I guess he won't be able to go to Amber's party huh?"

Mia shook her head. "Not with a fever of a 110. I think we should take him to see Dr. Harris."

"Dr. Harris?" Zan uneasily said. "He got a thing for shots."

"Well, Zan with this high fever he may have to give you a lot of shots."

Zan thought a moment. "I'm feeling better Aunt Mia."

"Good so you can go to Amber's party." Letty smiled. "I laid out your clothes on your bed."

"Fine." He huffed.

Everyone laughed when he left the room.

"110, Letty." Mia laughed holding her sides.

"My boy has skills."

"So what's the plan?" Leon asked sipping his coffee.

Everyone stood around Jesse's grave. Mia picked the overgrown grass that encompassed it. After she cleared the grass away she laid a bouquet of white flowers next to his tombstone. Leon stood holding tight to Lindsay's hand. She rubbed the back of it with her thumb. "Tell me about him."

Leon looked at her. "Jes, the kid was always ready for an adventure. Had the biggest heart of anyone I knew."

Lindsay smiled. "So how'd you guys meet?"

"Jail." Letty told her.

Leon looked back at her. Letty and Zan where standing a little further back than the rest of them.

Lindsay poked Leon in the side. "Jail? How'd this story escape me?"

"You gonna get me in trouble." He said looking back at Letty.

_Jesse nervously paced back and forth in his jail cell. Dom was going to kill him. He had bitten his nails down to the bed. He used his one call an hour ago to call Letty to come and get him._

"_Yo man sit your ass down." A large tattooed black man snapped. "You givin me a headache." _

"_Sorry man." Jesse stammered out. He sat down on the bench. Instantly his knee started bouncing. _

"_That ain't any better." The man barked._

"_Leave the kid alone." Someone spoke up in the back._

"_Fuck off."_

_Jesse started mumbling to himself. "Carburator, then coolinghead and glowplug button. Don't forget the aluminum washers... Put the piston in the highest position while you turn the cranckshaft. Take out the screws from the rear cover of the crankcase. The the rear cover. Flush the engine and all parts use methanol and make sure to to check for metal debris or other parts.." His knee kept bouncing._

_Finally the tattooed man had enough and got in Jesse's face. "Stay the fuck still or I'm gonna make you."_

_The other guy sharing the cell with him pulled the guy away from Jesse. "I said leave him be. Can't you tell the kid scared shitless."_

"_It's ok." Jesse squeaked. He wished that Letty would hurry up._

_The other guy punched the third inmate. The guy fell to the ground. He laughed got up and tackled tattooed guy._

"_Break it up!" A guard yelled at the two men fighting. The guys broke apart taking separate sides of the jail cell. "You Campbell?"_

_Jesse nodded. "Your girlfriend posted bail."_

_Jesse walked out the cell. He looked back at the guy who stood up for him. "Thanks man."_

"_Eh, no problem."_

_Letty was leaning over the front desk smacking her gum. The officer at the desk looked annoyed by her. Cops weren't her favorite people in the world. And anyone who arrested Jesse made her shit list. When he came from the back he was ghost white._

"_You ok?"_

"_Uh yeah."_

_Letty patted him on the back. "Let's get out of here."_

"_Letty." Jesse whimpered._

"_Yeah."_

_He ran his fingers through his hair. "How much cash you got on you?"_

"_You didn't have to bail me out." _

_Jesse smiled. "You bailed me out. That guy would have ruined my beautiful face."_

_He laughed. "Leon."_

"_Jesse."_

"_Jesse, your girlfriend looks pissed."_

_Jesse looked at Letty. She was standing with her arms crossed smacking on her gum. "She always looks like that, and she's not my girlfriend."_

Mia laughed. "He came back to fort and never left."

"Someone had to look after the kid." Leon got solemn. "I shouldn't of let him race Tran."

"Don't go there. You didn't know what Tran was gonna do." Letty had gone down this road with Leon before. The night that Dom found them in Baja and told them about Jesse. Leon had blamed himself. He was the one who talked Jesse into racing.

"Yeah but I knew Jesse couldn't drive worth a shit."

"He what he was getting into."

"Yeah, Letty but..."

She rolled her eyes. "But what? Leon it wasn't your fault."

He sighed and squatted next to the tombstone. He traced the etchings with his fingers. 'Jesse Campbell Gone but never forgotten.' "I miss him."

Mia hugged him. "We all do."

Leon got back up and took Lindsay's hand. "Ready?"

She nodded and they headed back to Letty's jeep and Mia was close behind.

Letty took Zan's hand again when he tugged her back. "Hold up."

He ran over to Jesse's tombstone. He dug in his pocket and pulled out one of his matchbook cars. "He drove a Jetta right?"

Letty nodded.

He put a light green matchbook Jetta on top of the tombstone. "You miss him a lot don't you?"

"Yeah, I do."

Zan wrapped his arms around Letty. "I'm sorry, Mom."

Letty kissed the top of head. "Thanks, Kiddo."

* * *

Thanks for reading, hoped you liked it. Please take time and review. I really like to know what you think god or bad.

Tonya :)


	19. Chapter 19

After they left Jesse's grave they took Zan to the toy store to buy Amber's birthday present. As Letty drove she couldn't help shake the feeling that Brian had lied to her.

"You ok?" Mia asked. She had noticed that Letty had been distant for most of the morning. Mia had questioned Leon about their adventure the night before. He just huffed and drank his coffee. Letty was shutting her out.

"I'm fine." Letty gave her a slight smile. "You know what you're getting Amber?"

Zan rolled his eyes and looked up from his PSP. "No."

"So Zan." Leon said. "Is this Amber your girlfriend?"

The boy's eyes got three sizes big. "No, gross."

Everyone laughed. Letty pulled into the store. She turned to Zan. "Ready to go shopping?"

"No."

"How bout this?" Zan picked up a Hello Kitty Pez dispenser. Letty rolled her eyes while Leon and Lindsay cracked up.

"Zan you're not getting her a Pez dispenser for her birthday." Mia scolded. She took his hand. "Come I'll help you pick something out."

"Alright." He put the Pez back and followed behind Mia. Leon and Lindsay joined them in their quest.

"Hey I'm gotta make a phone call."

Lindsay looked back at her. "Everything ok?"

"Yeah, just a work call. I'll catch up with you guys."

Leon just dragged Lindsay in the direction of Mia and Zan.

Letty went back in the Jeep. She sat in the driver side and pulled out her phone.

"O'Conner."

"Did you know about the dead racers?"

"Letty?"

"Did you know about the dead racers?"

"Letty look..."  
"Just answer the question, Brian."

Letty heard a deep sigh on the other side of the phone. "Yeah I knew."

"How long?"

"From the start."

"So you lied?"

"I didn't mean to lie to you. You know that. I just wanted to help."

Letty dropped her phone from her ear and sighed. The one person she counted on in this lied to her. "You're just lying to yourself, O'Conner. You say that you're this good guy trying to help, but all you do is lie to Mia, Dom, me. You don't even know the difference." She spat out.

"Letty if I told you about Braga and the dead racers would it of made a difference?"

"Yeah."

"Whose lying now, Let? You would do anything for Dom, even if it means getting yourself killed."

Letty saw her family coming out from the store with bags in tow and hung up the phone.

She put on a smile. "So what you get?"

"I got her a gum kit."

"Gum kit?"

"Yeah it's pretty cool you can make your own gum in any flavor you want."

Mia rolled her eyes. "It was that or plastic vomit. He shops like Dom."

"_Dominic Toretto you are not getting her a tool box for your anniversary." Mia said mortified at the purple box._

"_What? She needs a tool box for her car." He picked up the box. "Letty's favorite is color purple."_

_Mia got her coat and threw Dom's at him. "There's nothing romantic about a tool box not even if it's what she wants. She's your girlfriend Dom, not your buddy. You get girlfriends jewelry, flowers, chocolates not things to fix their carburetors."_

_Dom huffed while Mia dragged him out._

_Mia dragged Dom inside of a jewelry store. "Mia, Letty doesn't even wear jewelry."_

_Mia smiled. "That's because you haven't bought her any."_

_An older woman with glasses and light gray hair greeted them. "Hello, how can I help you?"_

"_It's my brother and his girlfriend's first anniversary and he was going to get her a toolbox."_

_The woman looked shocked. "Oh my, well we can't have that now can we." The woman took Dom's arm. "Don't worry I've have helped hundreds of helpless men."_

_The woman showed Dom all types of jewelery bracelets, rings, necklaces diamonds, pearls, nothing said Letty to him._

"_Nothing." The saleswoman said restlessly. _

"_Letty's not really a jewelry kind of girl."_

_The woman laughed. "Every woman is a jewelery type, you just have to find the right piece. Tell me about her."_

_Dom smiled, Letty was one subject he knew all about. "She got these big brown eyes that can look right through all the bullshit to the good in someone. 20% angel, 80% devil. Down to earth. Ain't afraid to get a little engine grease under her fingernails. She's got this crazy loud laugh and the type of smile that makes my heart stop. Girl got my heart in her hand and she don't even know it."_

_Mia was smiling from ear to ear. She hadn't heard her brother speak about anyone like he spoke about Letty. He was a better man when she was around him. _

_The saleswoman smiled also. "I think I have just the piece." The woman bustled to the back of the store._

"_What?"_

_Mia hooked her arm around her brother's. "You should tell her that, tonight."_

_The woman came back with a light gray box. She pulled out a gold cuff bracelet with engraving etched on it. "It's not too frilly, but still a beautiful piece."_

_Dom and Mia inspected the bracelet. "We'll take it." Mia told the woman._

_Mia had wanted them to go out and dress up for the occasion, but Letty but her foot down. So Mia and the boys made themselves scarce so that Dom and Letty could enjoy their anniversary at home. Letty popped in a movie. Dom came in with the popcorn._

"_What we watching?"_

"_Death Bed: The Bed that Eats."_

_Dom laughed. "Why can't you ever pick a normal movie?"_

_Letty popped in a piece of popcorn. "If I wanted normal I would have let Mia plan our anniversary. I wanted this." She nuzzled up close to him._

_During the movie Dom kept fumbling the bracelet in his pocket. He was worried whether or not she would like it. He tried to tell Mia that Letty didn't do all the frilly things that she enjoyed. _

_Letty noticed that Dom kept fidgeting so she paused the movie. "What?"_

_He looked at her. "Nothing."_

"_Nothing?" She crawled on his lap. "What do you have?" She said in a sultry tone._

"_Watch your movie." He pushed her off._

_Letty wasn't going to let this go without a fight she tackled Dom trying to get at his pocket. Finally she managed to get the box out his pocket. She looked at it with a quizzical look._

_He ran his hand over his head nervously._

_She opened the box and a smile crept across her face. She pulled out the bracelet and put it on._

"_You like it?"_

_She repositioned herself back on his lap and kissed him. "C'mon let me model it for you." She took his hand and lead him upstairs._

They entered the skating ring. Some pop song was playing and little people were running, skating and screaming all over the place.

"Zan!" Blond haired Amber screamed. "You came!" She took him by the hand. "C'mon you need skates."

Zan looked back at Letty with a exacerbated expression.

The women were discussing what movie to watch while Zan was at the party. Leon looked on as Zan tried helplessly to escape the girls that were chasing him down. He laughed to himself. Leon thought that Zan was a lot like Dom were as the ladies loved him, but he didn't love them back. Women always flocked to Dom, but he only had eyes for Letty. He would flirt but never took it futher than that. Leon, Vince, and Jesse were always there to pick up the pieces of the poor women that Dom left behind. He was the perfect wing man.

"_Wow! I love these seats." A petite red head said as she slid into Dom's car. "You were so fast in the race." She caressed the dash board. "Do you do everything so fast?" She asked suggestively._

_Dom shook his head as he leaned in over her. Brittney was the newest racer chaser who would attempt to get in his good graces. He watched as she gripped the gear shift suggestively._

"_Why don't you take me for a ride?" She ran her hands down Dom's chest._

_He chuckled and looked up. Letty was standing on the other side of the car with her arms crossed and a pissed off look. "Brittney, my girl is the only one allowed to ride with me." He pointed at Letty. _

_She looked disappointed. "But, I'm sure one of my boys would be willing to take you for a ride and show you how to drive a stick."_

_She smiled and got out of the car. "Too bad, I could of rode all night."_

_Dom laughed and shut the car door. "I bet you could." He wrapped his arm around her. "Brittney these are my boys the breaded one is Vince, the skinny kid is Jesse, and this is Leon... Brittney here wants to go for a ride and maybe one of you could show her how to drive a stick." He told them with a smirk._

_Leon took her hand. "I'd be more than happy to show you."_

"Letty, I can't leave my man while he's down." Leon pointed at Zan who was struggling to stay upright on the skates. Amber and two other girls behind him were whispering and giggling. Amber skated by and placed a quick peck on the cheek and skated quickly away. This freaked Zan and he fell on his butt.

"Ouch." Letty winced.

Tamara approached them. "Oh I'm glad Zan could make it. Amber was worried he wasn't coming." She said with a frazzled smile. "My husband left to go get the cake an hour ago. He hasn't gotten back... And I just found out that one of the kids are vegan. So they can't eat the cheese pizza..."

Mia placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Hey, I'm pretty good a kids birthday parties. What can I do to help?"

Tamara brighten up. "Well I could use help with the goody bags."

"I can do goody bags." Mia said with a smile.

"Letty can I have keys to the jeep I want to get my camera out." Lindsay asked. Letty tossed her the keys. When Lindsay left Letty and Leon were alone. Letty could feel the tension radiate off him.

"You still pissed?"

Leon watched the kids skate in a circle. Zan had recovered from his drive by kiss and continued his skating with another boy. Leon noted that the kid was resilient. He got knocked down and got right back up. He was a lot like his mother like in that way. Life had knocked Letty down several times, but she always got back up with more veracity. "Lins and me were talking this morning maybe it's time for a change. She's really loving the west coast sun. Plus she taken to the kid and Mia." He turned to look at her. "And someone gotta keep your ass outta trouble." He took her hand and gave it a tight squeeze.

Lindsay returned with her camera and too a picture of Letty and Leon. The bright flash blinded them. "Damn woman." Leon squinted to regain his sight. She gave him a swat on the butt and continued taking pictures of Zan and his friends.

After five minutes of listening to the other parents talk about soccer meets and what fruits are best Letty grew bored. She huffed and popped up. "I'm going out there."

Leon laughed and waived her good luck.

Letty got her skates and laced them up. She hadn't skated since she was a teenager.

_Letty laced up her skates. Since she was too young for a car so her skates were her only wheels. Abuelita had dropped her and her cousins off along with the girl down the street, Mia. Her Abuelita wanted her to get to know Mia because she was a "buena muchacha". _

"_Letty move your ass!" Stacy yelled from the rink. Stacy grabbed Letty by the hand and dragged her to the floor. The two skated hand in hand for a while until Letty wanted to go faster. She tugged on Allison's braid when she zipped by her. She did a couple more laps before she got thirsty. She noticed Mia sitting alone in a booth crying. Letty looked around for Stacy or Allison they were good at handing tears. But they were no where to be found. So, Letty took a deep breath and approached the tearful girl._

"_You alright?" She slid in the seat across from Mia._

_Mia sniffled and looked up. "I'm ok."_

_Letty took a sip of her drink. "You don't look ok."_

_Mia turned her attention to a group of boys at the other end of the food court. One of them blew a kiss at her. She turned back and started crying harder._

_Letty rolled her eyes. Mia was like Stacy and Allison boy crazy. She couldn't figure why they let boys dictate their lives. The boy who blew the kiss at Mia approached the table._

"_See the ice queen has a new friend." He looked at Letty. "You an ice bitch like Mia?"_

_Letty smiled sweetly and stood up. _

"_What are you gonna do?" He taunted laughing._

_Letty answered him with a left hook. He fell down. She lost her balance a bit still on her skates, but she managed to sit on top of him. "Apologize." She demanded._

_The boy wiggled underneath her. "Get off."_

_She popped him again. "Apologize."_

_Mia was mortified and she ran to get Stacy and Allison. By the time Mia had found Stacy and Allison Letty was being yanked up by two larger workers._

_Letty sat outside of the manager's office. She could hear her Abuelita apologize to the manager for her behavior. Letty wished she wouldn't, because she wasn't sorry. Mia walked up to her and handed her a soda. "Thanks."_

"_No problem."_

"Oh my god Zan, look at your mom!" Evan one of Zan's friends pointed out. Zan smiled. Most kids would have been mortified seeing their parents out of the rink, not him. He loved that his mom didn't do normal things that other parents did. Sure she made sure he brushed his teeth and go to bed on time, but she did crazy things like skating backwards.

"Mom!" Zan wobbled over to Letty. She caught him before he fell over.

"I gotta teach you how to skate. Can't have my boy falling all over the place." Zan laughed holding her hand.

Mia laughed as Zan and Letty approached her. "You not gonna pick any fights are you?"

Zan looked at his mother. "You picked a fight?" He said amused.

"No the kid just fell into my fist." She tugged on Mia's wrist. "You coming out?"

"No."

"Come on Aunt Mia, please." Zan begged.

"No."

"Come on Aunt Mia." Letty mocked.

Mia huffed. "Fine." She said smiling.

* * *

Just some mid week fluff. Happy reading & please continue reviewing it helps me to know what you think good or bad.

Tonya


	20. Chapter 20

By the time they got home Zan was knocked out in the car. Leon took the burdened of carrying Zan upstairs. He laid the kid down on the bed. Letty took off his shoes and tucked him in.

"He's a good kid, Let."

She tussled his hair. "Yeah he is."

Leon leaned against the door. "So this plan of yours work. What then? Dom comes back and you three live happily ever after?"

She gently dragged him into her room closing the door behind her. "I haven't thought that far yet."

Leon sat on the bed his knee bouncing and Letty leaned against the door. The two were quiet.

Lindsay and Mia sat the the kitchen table both looking up at the ceiling. "So, they've been up there a while." Lindsay noted.

Mia nodded in agreement. Quiet was never a good thing in her house.

_Mia and the boys all stood at the foot of the steps. Dom and Letty had been going at it for an hour and then they got real quiet. At first they thought that they were making up, but it was too quiet for that. Jesse looked at Mia with doe eyes._

"_Maybe you should check on them?"_

_Mia took a deep breath and took the first steps when Letty came storming down the steps with her duffel bag. Letty brushed by them without a word, got in her car, and drove away. _

_Everyone looked up at Dom who was standing at the top of the steps._

"_Where's she going?" Vince asked._

_Dom just looked at them and retreated back into his room._

_The next three days no one had heard from Letty and Dom had only came out of his room to go to work. Letty hadn't even shown up for work which was out of character for her. Despite her and Dom's fights she always came to work. The team was getting worried, so they drew straws to see who would talk to Dom about where Letty was. Mia drew the short straw._

_She knocked on the car he was working on. "Hey, Dom."_

"_What." He barked._

_Mia looked back at the guys for help. They just looked at their shoes. "Um, the guys and me were wondering where's Letty. She hasn't been a..."_

"_Drop it." _

"_Dom."_

_He pulled himself from under the car. "I said drop it." He grabbed a rag and wiped his hands and stormed into the office._

_Back at home things hadn't cooled off it was still eerily quiet at the house. They all walked around on egg shells. After the sixth day Letty walked into the house carrying her duffel like nothing had happened._

"_He upstairs?"_

_They all looked at her. "Where you been at girl?" Vince barked. "Six days and nothing?"_

_Letty dropped her bag at the foot of the stairs. "He up there Vince?" She asked again quietly._

_Vince nodded. Letty climbed the stairs quietly._

_The team all sat around the living room waiting, wishing to hear any sounds coming from the room, but nothing came it was still quiet. The night had come and past and Dom and Letty hadn't emerged from the room. Finally around mid day the next day Letty came down and sat by Jesse who was on the floor of the living room reading a magazine._

"_You two ok?" He asked flipping through the pages.  
Letty laid her head on his shoulder._

"_You wanna talk about it?"_

_She shook her head. "You wanna punch something or spit?"_

_Letty laughed and tussled his hair. _

"Quiet before the storm, right?" Mia said barely over a whisper.

Letty had her arms folded leaning against the door. "I don't know what I want. Some days I miss him like a motha other days I hate him. Zan needs his father doesn't matter what I want."

Leon shook his head. "Letty, girl." He stood up and kissed her on the forehead. "When that bastard comes back. Make sure you call me so I can kick his ass."

* * *

Campos ducked and dive with the video. He winced when a car hit the lamp pole. He jumped up when a car nearly missed a wave of on coming traffic. He paused the video when the driver who held his interest got out. "Gisele." He called out.

She entered the room. Stood in front of him with her arms crossed."Yes."

"Who is she?" Campos pointed to the frozen picture of Letty on the screen.

"Her name is Letty."

"What do we know about her?"

"Remember the semi truck hijackings in 2000?"

"Yes."  
"Well rumor has it, it was her and her team that pulled them off. Then they disappeared. She just showed up out of the blue a few months ago."

"Impressive."

Fenix entered the room chewing on a toothpick. "The shipment ready. We just need drivers."

Campos nodded. He looked at the Polaroids spread across him on the coffee table. He handed Fenix five photos and handed Gisele one. "Your drivers."

She looked at the photo that he had given him with a quizzical look.

"Bring her to me. I have something else planed for the beautiful Letty."

Gisele nodded and left the room.

Fenix poured drinks for him and Campos. "What are you doing?" He asked handing Campos a drink.

He sipped his beverage and smiled.

* * *

Brian sunk into his bed. He was having the worst couple of days. Stasiak was breathing down his neck and the thing with Leon and Letty had him even more stressed. He pulled a box from under his bed. It was the files he had on Dom and the team. He had read over them a thousand times since he gave Dom those keys. He wondered if he took Dom in, how things would have turned out for the rest of the team. If he hadn't fallen for Mia and did his job how things would have played out. He pulled a photo of Letty. He had done surveillance on the shop a few days before he approached Mia and asked for a tuna without the crust. The photo was of Letty leaning against her car laughing Mia and Jesse standing around her. She looked happy, care free, and Brian wished that he could bring that smile back to her.

* * *

Dom sat alone in a bar in Port-au-Prince, Haiti he ran his finger alone the top of the bottle.

The bartender approached him, "Voulez-vous une autre bière?"

Dom didn't know much French but he did understand the word bière. Letty always laughed at him because the only words he bothered learning in other languages were beer, bathroom, and nice car. Dom nodded and threw down a few bills. He had been staying in Port-au-Prince since he left Letty and Zan. It was beautiful she would of loved it here. The bartender came back and gave Dom another beer. He gulped half of it down. He was thinking about is family and how much his heart ached every day since he left them.

* * *

Translation

(french)Voulez-vous une autre bière- do you want another beer


	21. Chapter 21

Lindsay and Leon decided to spend their last day in LA with his mother and step father and Mia had decided to take up an extra shift to make up for the fact that she had been playing hooky. Letty and Zan got up early to go surfing. The surfing conditions were pretty good. They were the best since they had gotten to LA. After an hour of hitting the waves Letty went to the beach to watch Zan surf. If he had his way he would be out there all day, the boy loved to surf.

"Hey Letty!" A boy screamed running by her. Letty looked up and saw another blond haired boy streak pass her and into the water.

"Danny, what's up brother?"

Danny was a tall muscular man with long blond hair sat beside her. She had met him one early morning surfing with his two boys Cody and Ian. They had bonded over their love of surfing and single parenthood.

"How'd the custody hearing go?"

Danny stared out into the ocean watching the boys in the water. "Her lawyer brought up my DUI."

Letty shook her head in disbelief.

"It's been two years Letty. I've been sober for two years. I go to the meetings, I do everything and she brought it up after she promised she wouldn't."

"What are you going to do?"

Danny sighed and dug his toes in the sand. "I don't know." He turned to look at her with sadness in his eyes. "She got a job in Chicago, a really good one. I may loose them."

Letty rubbed his back to comfort him. She knew all about being afraid of losing someone. She lost her mother when she was six, she lost her father at ten, and she lost Jesse. She looked out to the ocean at Zan playing with his friends. He was her life and she would be lost if she ever lost him. It scared her sometimes how much she loved her son. She would do anything for him. "Fight it." She looked at Danny with determination in her eyes. "Fight it. Do what ever you have to do to keep your kids, Danny."

"I don't know if I can."

"You love 'em?"

"Of course."

She looks Danny straight in the eyes. "Then fight."

Danny looked at her for a moment. Her eyes were had both love and determination in them that he was taken back. "Your a good friend." He said smiling.

"I know."

They sat there in silence for a while. Both pondering on what Letty had said. Danny thinking on how to fight for his sons and Letty how to get Dom back. Maybe if she had fought Dom into ditching the heist things would have turned out differently. There would be a change that Jesse would be alive, Vince around and Mia wouldn't have had to be alone for all that time. Maybe if she had fought Dom on the beach that night he wouldn't have left.

_Dom looked in the direction Han pointed. Letty was sitting alone gazing out at the ocean. It was like she was seeing it for the first time. Dom didn't think that Letty could get anymore beautiful than she already was, but at this moment she made his heart stop. "There she is." Dom smiled and walked over to her. He sat down wrapping his arm around her. She nuzzled up close to him._

"_I hear Rio is nice this time of year." She said smiling. "It's got pretty good beaches, Zan would flip at the waves there."_

_Dom was quiet. They had botched the job and now the cops were looking for him. He would die before he went back to prison, but he couldn't even fathom what what he would do if they caught Letty or took his son away from him. "The cops are getting hungrier."_

_A mischievous smile crept across Letty's face. "Then I guess we did something right."_

_Dom took a deep breath inhaling the smell of Letty's hair. It smelled of ocean and her shampoo that he loved. "I'm a walking target... I don't want you and Zan around when they catch up to me."_

_Letty turned and looked at him. She couldn't believe what he was saying. They had been to hell and back together, a son and still were going strong. "Ride or Die, remember? Dom, how long have we been doing this? And now all of a sudden, out of nowhere it's too dangerous? Come on. We'll figure it out. We always do." She kisses him to soothe his fears. She looked at him and she can tell that this might be the last time she would be kissing him. But that doesn't stop her from kissing him again. "C'mon let's get out of here."_

_Dom picked her up not taking his lips from hers._

_When they returned home. Dom made love to her slowly. He wanted to take in as much as he could of her, because he knew that it might be the last time. Afterwards Letty fell asleep holding tight to him. He had to pry her arms from him carefully not to wake her. He packed his duffel with clothes and pictures of his family. He went into Zan's room and sat on the bed. Dom wanted to be like his father and raise his son the way he was. But, life had different plans for him and his son. He fought back the urge to cry and climb back into bed with Letty. He knew if he wanted to keep them safe that he had to leave. He took some paper out of a spiral notebook on Zan's desk and wrote a letter to his son. He wanted to make sure that Zan knew that he loved him and to take care of his mother. After he was done writing he went back into his room and watched Letty sleep for a while. He took off his cross and placed it on the nightstand along with some cash. He walked out the door without saying goodbye, because he knew Letty would fight him tooth and nail for him to stay._

Letty and Zan spent the rest of the afternoon with Danny, Ian, and Cody. They surf, ate, and laughed until the afternoon when they parted ways. It was nice to get away from everything to be around someone who she didn't have a history with. She wasn't Dom's girlfriend, part of a team, a racer, running away from the law, FBI informant, she was just Letty Zan's mom and she liked it.

By the time Letty and Zan got home Mia was passed out on the couch. Runner greeted them at the door Zan went to let him out.

Letty gentle nudged Mia to wake her. She slowly opened her eyes and yawned. "Hey."

"Hey yourself. Why don't you go upstairs and get some rest. You look like shit."

Mia smiled slightly. "Thanks. What about dinner?"

"I'll make it?"

Mia arched her eyebrow. Letty nudged her slightly. "I can cook."

"Cereal doesn't count as cooking."

"Whatever. Just let me take care of dinner tonight."

She stretched as she got off the couch. "Ok, thanks."

The only thing Letty knew how to cook were enchiladas. She had learned from her Abuelita. The old woman was determined for Letty to learn how to cook at least one meal.

"_How do you expect to keep a man Leticia like Dominic if you don't cook for him." Rosalía Ortiz asked her youngest grand daughter._

"_By not cooking for him." Letty leaned against the kitchen counter with her arms crossed._

_Allison laughed. "Dom ain't interested in Letty's cooking Abuelita."_

_Rosalia looked at her other grand daughter and waived her off. "Ah I don't want to hear that." Rosalia poured beans into a pot. "Do you know how many candles I have lit for you girls? Too many." She began to cut tomatoes for the salsa. "I just want to see you settled, Leticia. You and Dominic have been together for a long time. It's about time he put a ring on your finger."_

_Letty almost chocked on the cheese she was snacking on. Allison and Stacy both cracked up._

"_I don't see what so funny, Stacy. You and Miguel should be married. It's not right you having a baby and not marrying the father."_

"_Don't start." Stacy warned. "Miguel can barely take care of himself let alone a baby."_

"_I told you I would talk to him."_

_Stacy turned to Letty. "You talk? Letty I've seen the way you talk. I may not want to marry Miguel but I still like the way his face looks."_

_Rosalia shook her head. "¿Jesús dulce cuál soy yo que va a hacer con mis muchachas?"_ _She threw her towel down. "Leticia come here and watch me. I want you to at least know how to cook one dish. A man likes a woman who can do more than one thing."_

_Letty rolled her eyes and Stacy and Allison snickered. "Enchiladas are easy and you can buy most of the indigents pre made." _

_Letty begrudgingly watched her Abuelita make enchiladas. _

_Dom sat at the Ortiz's dinning room table grinning from ear to ear. Letty came out of the kitchen with the enchilada pan in her hand. She sat the pan in front of him._

"_G__racias__ , Leticia." Dom said barely keeping his laugh under control. _

_Letty gave him a dirty look. She plopped the food down on his plate. "D__e nada."_

"Zan, Mia food's ready!" Letty shouted from the kitchen. Everyone took there place at the table.

"Wow this looks really good, Letty." Mia noted.

Zan smiled. "It's the only thing she can make."

Letty kicked him slightly under the table. "Say grace."

They enjoyed eating as a family. Leon had called to tell them that him and Lindsay would be staying the night and that they would meet them at the airport in the morning to say their goodbyes.

On the way Mia was crying you would of thought Leon and Lindsay were going to war. "Two months. If you two aren't back here then I'm coming to get you." She said sobbing on Leon's shoulder.

Once she got over to Lindsay Mia started crying harder and Lindsay joined in on the tears.

Letty rolled her eyes. She stood back with her hands in her pockets watching Mia and Zan say their goodbyes.

"Come here big man." Leon took Zan by the shoulders. "Hold down the fort until I get back ok?"

The boy nodded. "Two months and I'll be back to kick your ass in Mario kart."

Zan laughed and hugged Leon. "Bye Uncle Leon."

He smiled. "I like the sound of that."

Still holding on to Mia Lindsay grabbed on to Zan. "Aunt Mia, Aunt Lindsay I can't breathe." He mumbled in their embrace.

Letty and Leon both just stood there looking at each other. It felt like they were always saying goodbye to each other. "You gonna just stand there with your hands in your pockets?" He grabbed her by the wrist pulling her to a hug. "Just promise me one thing." He whispered in her ear. "Just don't get your self killed."

Letty fought back the urge to cry. "Two months, you better have your ass back here." She told him.

He nodded and grabbed the luggage.

Letty hugged Lindsay. She started hiccuping. "I never had, had sisters be before. Now I go got two." She smiled. "Take, ake, care. Ok? I ju, just got you."

Letty nodded. "You too."

Mia wrapped her arms around Zan. "Call as soon as you land!" She shouted out to Leon and Lindsay. They all watched as Leon and Lindsay go to the gate. They all were quiet on the way back. Zan in the back flipping aimlessly through one of his school books. Mia stared out the window, while Letty drove.

"You know it's funny." Mia said turning to Letty.

"What is?"

"All this time, Leon had been so careful about not letting on where he was, what he was doing. Then all of a sudden he writes and says he's coming home for a visit."

"Maybe he just wanted to come home."

"Maybe." Mia was more than excited to see Leon, but she couldn't help the feeling that there was more to his visit than him wanting to come home.

* * *

Translations

¿Jesús dulce cuál soy yo que va a hacer con mis muchachas? - Sweet Jesus what am I going to do with my girls.

* * *


	22. Chapter 22

Letty pulled into Zan's school. He had fallen asleep in the back of the jeep. "Hey, wake up."

He scrunched his face and yawned. "Do I have to go to school today?"

Letty undid his seatbelt and grabbed his book bag. "Yep."

He slowly slid out of the jeep. "Fine."

They walked together into the school. "I really like Uncle Leon and Aunt Lindsay." Zan told his mother as he held the door for her. He paused a moment and looked at her. "Mom?"

"Yeah."

"What happened?"

Letty stopped walking to look at her son. "What do you mean?"

"What happened? I mean I've seen all the pictures of you guys when you were younger. All you and Uncle Leon talked about were the old times, back when the team was together. How come we had to move around so much, and how come Aunt Mia was all by herself here, and Uncle Leon in Virginia? Where's Vince and what really happened to Jesse? If you guys were so happy how come everyone left?" Zan spilled out in one long breath.

Letty looked at her son. She knew one day she would have to tell him about their old lives, but she didn't know how to tell her nine year old son that she used to hijack semi trucks, got caught by an undercover FBI agent, and had to go on the run so that his father wouldn't go back to prison, again? And now working for said FBI agent as an informant to help bring down a drug cartel in hopes in clearing his fugitive father's name. She licked her lips and thought about her words carefully.

"Back then we were young and stupid. We thought we were invincible that we could get away with anything. But our lifestyle caught up with us and instead of facing the consequences...we ran. I'm not proud of the things I did back then. We lost more than we gain...a lot more." She felt her son's hand wipe away a tear from her face. She didn't even realize that she was crying.

"Usted es mi corazón."

"You're mines too, kiddo." She kissed him on the top of his head. "You should go to class. Don't want Amber to worry about you." She teased.

"Gross, Mom." He laughed and headed to his classroom.

Mia sat in the jeep waiting for Letty to return. Her life had changed over the last months. Her gray life of solitude was over. She had a family now with her surrogate sister and nephew. Now Leon and Lindsay were in the picture. Even though Mia was happier than she had been in months she couldn't let go of the nagging feeling that something bad was going to happen. She looked on as Letty came out of the school building. She thought about her adoptive family with Letty, Leon, Vince, and Jesse. The team as her brother would like the call them. Dom was the rock that everyone leaned on, Letty was the glue that held everyone together, Vince was the loyal best friend that always had your back, Leon the ever cool peace maker, and Jesse the hyperactive kid that everyone loved. Sometimes Mia didn't know her place on the team. All she knew about cars was how to drive them other than that she was pretty clueless.

She was smiling when Letty got in the car. "What are you grinning about?"

"Remember when Jesse tried to teach me how to change the oil in my car."

Letty busted out laughing. "God yes. I've never seen him walk away from a car in need before." Letty started the jeep up. "I never got how you can grow up around cars and not one one thing about them."

"Hey I can drive them."  
Letty huffed. "Barely."

"_Ok Mia, what do we do before we start the car?" Francis asked his daughter nervously. _

_Mia sat straight up in the driver's seat. "Umm."_

"_Put the key in the ignition." Letty piped in from the back seat._

_Mia whipped her head around. "Letty quiet." Francis scolded. _

_She just laughed and buckled her seat belt. Mia was sixteen and was ready for her driver's license, but she had failed the DMV test twice and she was determined not to fail it a third time. _

"_Ok sweetheart, put the key in the ignition and start her up." _

_Mia nodded. "Ok what next?"Her father asked._

"_Check my mirrors."_

"_What else?"_

"_Make sure you don't hit any old ladies crossing the street."_

_Mia huffed and got out the car. Francis glared at Letty through the rear view mirror. "Do you always have to be a smart ass about everything? She's nervous as it is without comments from the peanut gallery."_

"_Sorry, Frankie." _

_He sighed. "Go in the house and bring her out here."_

_Dom and Vince were inside watching television when Mia stormed in crying._

"_How many trash cans you take out this time?" Dom teased._

_Mia cut her eyes at him. "Shut up. I hate your little girlfriend by the way." She sneered as she stomped up the stairs._

_Not long after Letty came into the house. _

"_What you do to her?" Dom barked._

_She shook her head and made an effort to go upstairs when Dom stopped her. "Be nice." He warned._

_Letty smiled. "Aren't I always?"_

"_No." Dom laughed._

_Letty found Mia on her bed crying. "Hey you alright?"_

_She rolled over and looked at Letty. "Do you think I'm a complete loser? God I've taken the driving test twice and failed. I'm the only sixteen year old in California who can't drive!" Mia buried her head in her pillow._

_Letty sat on the bed and started to rub Mia's back. "Don't you think you're being a bit dramatic. You know Dom failed his test the first time before he past it. And Vince he couldn't pass the written part."_

_Mia stopped crying and rolled over. " Wait! What? Dom, my brother Dom failed his driving test? He was born at the steering wheel."_

_Letty laughed. "Yeah but according to California Department of Motor Vehicles you brother sucked it hard."_

_Mia wiped her face. "How did I not know this?" She began to smile._

"_I dunno. The only reason I knew was because he went the same time as Allison. She passed he didn't. Allison cracked on him for weeks."_

"_Wow."_

"_So... you gonna get back in the car or sit here and cry about it?"_

Letty pulled up to the house. "It was good seeing Leon wasn't it?" Mia asked slamming the jeep door. Letty justed nodded in agreement. She followed Letty inside the house. It felt empty again without Leon. His presence added a life to the house she hadn't felt in a long while. "Letty."

"Yeah Mia." Letty plopped down on the sofa and rubbed Runner's belly.

Mia was hesitant she wanted to ask Letty about the tension between her and Leon, the real reason of why he showed up when he did, about Dom, about everything that was going on. But as she watched Letty play with her dog she decided not to. She knew when to pick her battles and right now this wasn't the time. Not with Letty here with her and Leon returning in two months. She was no longer alone.

"Nothing. I'm gonna shower then head off to work."

"Okay." She replied absently as she continued to rub Runner's belly.

The rest of the day was uneventful for Letty. She went to work at Harry's which was dull. She picked up Zan from school. Usually he had a story for everything that happened at school and that would make her laugh. But, today he didn't have any stories to tell so the ride home was quiet. Mia had left a message saying that she was working a double so she wouldn't be home until late. She ordered take out for her and Zan. After dinner she helped with with his homework, then they played Lego Star Wars until it was time for him to go to bed. After she read to him she went into her room. It seemed larger than she remembered it being. Maybe because she wasn't sharing it with Dom. Everything now a days seemed a little bit smaller to her without Dom. Mia hadn't touched anything since the day they left. Mia told her if she moved something it meant that they weren't coming back. She opened the closet. They're clothes were still there. Mostly hers now, but some things of Dom's that she couldn't back in boxes and put in the shed. She stood on her tipy toes and pulled down an old shoe box from the top shelf. She was surprised that Dom had kept them even afterwards. He said he had read each one a million times, and he read a certain few again even after he got out. No one knew that Dominic Toretto was the sentimental type. No one but Letty. She sat on the bed and opened the box of letters she had wrote Dom during those two years he was in Lompoc.

_Letty smiled when she found Dom asleep with his clothes on. It had been a rough day and the night wasn't looking any better. They were going to be hijacking a truck in a couple of hours. It amazed her how he could sleep like a baby before a heist. She was always pumped full of adrenaline before a heist and sleep was always distant memory. So she spent most of the night with Jesse shooting the shit until he started to nod off, then she took to straightening out the house garage, she just need something to keep busy. But now her activities were wearing down on her and sleep didn't seem to distant now. She climbed into bed next to Dom. That's when she noticed that he was holding on to a piece of paper. Letty was nosy as shit when it came to Dom so she gently took the paper out of his hand. To her surprise it was a letter she wrote to Dom while he was in Lompoc. She read it and there wasn't anything really special about the letter to warrant Dom having it in his hands while he slept. It was basically her telling him about school, her hoe of a roommate who was also her best friend Amie, and her other friend Han. How Han taught her how to drift and how she walked in on Amie doing some kinky sex stuff that she couldn't describe. _

_Dom opened his eyes and saw that Letty was reading the letter. "Hey." He rumbled softly._

"_I can't believe you still have this."_

_He took the letter from her. "I kept all of them." He said getting up and showing her his shoe box letters. "But, this one is my favorite." He smiled._

_Letty made a face. "Really why?"_

_He shrugged. "It calms me. I remember when I got this. It was a pretty hellish day. I had just come from solitary confinement for beating this guy who tried to push up on me. My cell mate stole my socks, and they had these dry turkey sandwiches for lunch. Then the mail comes around and I get your letter. I started cracking up when you talking about Amie and her sex toys. I remember feeling like I was in the car with you when you were telling me about drifting. Most of all it made me feel like a part of me wasn't locked up..." He got real quiet. Dom never talked about his time in Lompoc and no one ever pressed him about it. "I don't if I could of survived without them." He confessed to her._

_Letty was taken back. She didn't think that he had read the ramblings of an seventeen year old freshman college student let alone keep them four years later._

_Dom looked straight into her eyes. "I love you."_

_Letty smiled brightly. "I guess your ok."_

_He laughed in returned and kissed her. "I mean it. You saved me."_

Letty didn't realize that she had fallen asleep until her phoned buzzed.

"Hello." she answered groggily.

"You're up." A female voice said on the phone. "3 o'clock Broad and Milton street the parking garage."

Letty looked at her clock and the digital displayed read 1:30AM.

"Mom?" Zan sleepily called out. "Who was that?"

"Wrong number, go back to sleep." She pulled the cover over him. She was really out of it to not notice Zan coming into her room. She climbed slowly out of bed and got dressed. She opened Mia's door but to her disappointment, Mia wasn't there. She checked the rest of the house. Then she remembered Mia was working a double and wouldn't be back until the morning.

Letty was in a catch 22 and she wasn't sure how to handle it. She knew that she couldn't leave her son alone and she couldn't miss the chance to be apart of Braga's team. She needed a babysitter at 1:30 in the morning. She thought about Danny, but then she remembered that he was out of town. There was her family. Abuelita was out of the picture she would give Letty an inquisition about what she was doing at 1:30AM and tell her that she was going to light a candle for her. Then there were her cousins Stacy or Allison. Stacy had her own set of problems and Allison lived too far. Then she remembered Doogie. He would do her the favor no questions asked and she was pretty sure that he would be up.

Twenty minutes later Doogie was at her door. "Hey." She said welcoming him in. "Thanks for doing this."

He shifted the bag on his shoulder. "No problem. It got me out my Dad's house." He looked around the house. "Nice place." He noted as he flopped on the couch. Runner hopped on his lap and started licking him. He tried to push the dog off but Runner was too big. Letty laughed and snapped. The dog hopped off and returned to his lazy boy.

"Nice dog." Doogie said wiping his face.

She smiled. "Zan sleeps through the night so don't worry about him. There's food in the frig, we got cable. Try not to order any porn. Video games galore. I should be back before he wakes up so no worries."

Doogie wasn't listening he was too busy flipping through the the various video games consoles. "Does this work?" He said holding up an old school Nintendo system.

She nodded and was almost out the door.

"Hey what's your kid's name?"

"Zan." She said smiling as the door closed.

* * *

Translations

Usted es mi corazón – You are my heart

* * *

Thanks for the reviews, I honesty didn't think anyone was still really reading this. Thanks again

Tonya


	23. Chapter 23

Letty stood in front of the parking deck and took a long deep breath. "Go big or go home." She said to herself as she entered the parking deck along with several other races. A couple she seen around Remy's the other two she didn't noticed. She did however see Racer Barbie and her mohawk side kick sitting with their arms crossed. There was another man swinging a golf club. Mohawk was cheering him on. Racer Barbie finally acknowledged their presence and spoke to the Hispanic golf player. He took one more swing.

"Ah that's a good one." Mohawk said clapping. He took a seat beside Racer Barbie.

Letty guessed this guy was the boss or at least close to him. He eyed the group of racers and rested his golf club on his shoulders behind his back. "You all know why you're here?" No one answered they all just looked around with this dumbfounded expression. Letty just huffed. He reminded her of Hector and his damn speeches before races.

"Good drivers are a dime a dozen, man. Every corner got a chingadera tuner racing for pinks. That's not what Braga has got me looking for. Braga wants someone that would sell their abuelita to be behind the wheel..." He stopped in front of a skinny black guy. He pointed the golf club at him. "Someone that drives their 10 second car not in a straight line, but to push it and make it through places no one else would take it..." He continued his survey of drivers finally stopping at Letty. "Real drivers." He stressed.

"So what are we hauling?" A white guy with a trucker hat asked.

He pivoted on his heels and looked at the guy. "For the money Braga's paying, you don't need to know." He said swinging his golf club in front of him.

Letty huffed again. He turned his attention back to her. "Something on your mind, beautiful?"

She crossed her arms glaring at him. "I thought you said you wanted real drivers? Any real driver knows exactly what's in their in their car."

Mohawk spoke up. "Mira, Real Driver nobody's forcing you to race."

Letty turned her head and rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry are you the boss? Or am I talking to the boss?"

Mohawk got up in her face. "Do I look like the boss?" He said intimidatingly.

Letty wasn't fazed after all she spent years dealing with Dominic Toretto. She stood her ground. "No." She replied cocking her to the side giving him a slight smile. "You look more like a **Chihuahua** with a bad hair cut."

He balled his fist, but the boss's golf club came between them. "Fenix, bastante de esto."

Mohawk coward away with his tail between his legs. "My job is to find the best drivers, period. And word is that you all are the best drivers." He looked at Letty. "Are we cool, beautiful?"

She nodded and stepped back in line.

"Good." He went back to the line and hit another golf ball. "Tonight we'll get acquainted. Then we'll dance." He took another chop sending the ball feet away.

Letty had to admit the music was good. Hector always played techo Spanish music in El Gato Negro. He said he wanted to keep it real. Techo gave her a headache so she never stayed long, just long enough to "play nice" as Dom put it. A couple of guys asked her to dance and she obliged she had to play it cool. It was strange dancing with strangers. Their hands exploring her curves. For the past eight years the only man she dance with was Dom.

"_You are giving me this one indulgence, Leticia." Rosalia said with her hands on her hips. "You didn't let me give you a quince or even a sweet sixteen. But you are giving me a prom."_

_Letty was about to open her mouth to protest, but her grandmother stopped her._

"_I'm not going to be around forever and I would like to see my beautiful nieta_ _in a beautiful dress."_

"_Don't say shit like that." Letty said._

"_Yeah, we all know that you are going to out live all of us." Allison added in._

_The Ortiz women were once again in a heated debate about Letty and senior prom._

"_No swearing in my cocina." Her grandmother snapped a towel at her granddaughters. "All I'm asking for is for one night. One night you put on a nice dress, shoes, maybe let Stacy do your hair and make up..."_

"_There no way in hell I'm letting Stacy anywhere near my hair. I've seen what she can do." Letty retorted looking straight at Allison._

_Rosalia shook her head in dismay. "When you get to be an old woman like me, you're gonna to look back and wish you went to your senior prom. What will you tell your niñitos when they asked if you had a quince, sweet sixteen, a prom?"_

_Stacy snorted. "I don't think cars can talk."_

_Rosalia waived Stacy's comment off. "Ssshh, quiet if you're not gonna to help."_

_Letty sighed. "Even if I did go. I don't have a date." She leaned against the counter with her arms crossed tight._

_Rosalia thought a moment. "What about that nice boy you bring around? Rodney? He seems like a good boy. And he dresses so nice. His pants are always ironed."_

_Letty laughed. "I'm not his type."_

_Rosalia looked confused. "Not his type? Cómo puede esto ser? You are a beautiful girl. What young man doesn't like a beautiful girl?"_

"_I don't have the right tools."_

_Stacy and Allison laughed. "Right tools?" Her grandmother again had a confused look. "What about Dominic or Vincent. I'm sure one of them would be willing to take you._

_Letty looked horrified, her cousins just laughed harder. _

"_I don't see what is so funny. I've seen the way Dominic looks at you. He makes googly eyes at you when you're not looking. And you nieta you always have stars in your eyes..."  
"I do not have stars in my eyes." Letty had turned three sides of red. "C'mon Stac, I'll take you to work." She got up from the table and practically ran out the house to the car._

"_You know she's right." Stacy said getting in the passenger side._

_Letty looked at her. "Dom does make googly eyes at you."_

"_You're just as crazy as she is. Dom does not look at me like that."_

_Stacy shook her head. "Let don't you know?" She shifted in the car seat so that she was facing Letty. "Abuelita wasn't just right about the way Dom looks at you, but you are beautiful."_

_Letty rolled her eyes._

"_What you are? The Ortiz girls are fine as hell you included." Stacy crossed her arms. "You know me and Ally tried to get at Dom."_

_Letty eyes popped out her head. "But he wasn't haven't it. He only has eyes for one Ortiz girl."_

"_Don't you think Abuelita is a little to old?"_

_Stacy laughed. "Seriously, just asked him. I've never known you to be afraid of anything."_

_Letty stood in front of the Toretto's door. There were butterflies in her stomach, her palms were all sweaty. She has knocked on this door a thousands times, before and asked for Dom, so why did this time she felt like she was going to puke. She took a deep breath and knocked._

_The door swung open and Mia stood there with the cordless stuck to her ear. "Hang on. Hey." Mia gave Letty a quick hug. "He's in the back with Dad working on the Charger. No I'm talking to Letty." Mia laughed closed the door. Letty shook her head. Mia was always attached to the telephone. She walked around back as slow as possible. And there he was under the hood of the Charger. She never noticed before, but Dom had a nice butt. She was mesmerized by it._

"_Hello, Letty." Francis said looking at her awkwardly. _

_She snapped out of her trance. "Hey, Mr. T what's up?"_

"_Nothing much. What can I do for you Ms. Ortiz?"_

_Letty wiped her hands on her pants. They were sweating more than usually. "Actually I need.. I mean I want to asked Dom something."_

_Francis nodded and left the two alone. Dom stood up at the sound of his name. He watched his father leave, and then turned his attention to Letty. She had the same flustered look on her face when she couldn't figure out what was wrong with a car. He smiled it was cute. "What's up?"_

_His baritone voice made a shiver go up her spine. Then she remembered that it was just Dom standing in front of her. The same guy who squeezed her hand all throughout The Exorcist, the same guy she tried to teach to swim but he just splashed around, the same guy she made out with the night she returned from Hawaii. He was her buddy, pal, partner in crime, he was just Dom. "My Abuelita making me go to my senior prom and I need a date." She blurted out. Dom just stared at her. It was unnerving the way he was looking at her. She just wished he would say something._

"_Is that your way of asking me to be your date to your senior prom?" He had a huge smile on his face. "Cause... I don't feel special. I mean no flowers, candy, no pretty please Dom would you escort me to my senior prom."_

_Letty stepped closer to him and cocked her head to the side. "Dom would you escort me to my senior prom." she said in a sultry tone. Then she stood on her tippy toes and kissed him gently on the lips. "Pretty please."_

_Letty was ready for the night to be over. She had been dragged through one dressing room to another. Her Abuelita had wanted her to wear this thing that looked more like a silk night gown than a dress. Her cousins and Mia had picked out a dress that showed more skin that she would of liked. Finally the day before the prom the women had compromised on a dress. It was a champaign colored spaghetti strapped dress that crissed-crossed in the back that came to her knees. Stacy had did her hair and make-up. Letty looked flawless. Her grandmother was crying after she was finished getting dress._

"_God, Abuelita. It's just a dress."_

"_Usted parece una princesa hermosa. I wish your father could see how beautiful you have become." She kissed her on the cheek. Letty blushed. _

"_Now come on we can't keep Dominic waiting all night." She took her hand and lead her down the stairs._

_Dom was waiting with his sister, father, and Letty's cousins. He had on a classic black suit with a champaign tie that Mia had picked out to match Letty's dress. Mia fiddled with his tie._

"_Mia, leave your brother alone." Francis said laughing._

"_I can't help it." She pinched his cheeks. "He looks so handsome. Like a prince in a Disney movie."_

"_And what I'm the ugly beast he has to fall in love with to break the spell of the wicked witch?" Letty came down the stairs with her grandmother in tow._

"_Damn I did good." Stacy marveled. _

_Dom couldn't hold back his smile. "Far from a beast." He put the corsage on her wrist. "Far, far, from it." He whispered in her ear._

_After a million pictures they were out the door. Letty almost squealed when she saw the white Cadillac classic 1956, 62 series convertible coupe. "No shit. How'd you get Mac to let you drive Lucile?"_

_Dom opened the door for her. "I told him I was taking you to the prom and I needed a nice ride. And, he offered."_

"_Mac offered?"_

"_Yeah, but he made me promise not to let your crazy ass drive."_

_When they got to the school Letty just stood at the door with her feet planted. "You know we actually can go in." Dom told her._

"_Tell me the truth... Do I look ridiculous?"_

_Dom was confused. Letty wasn't the type of girl that was insecure about herself. Girl was a force of nature. But as he looked at her more closely he realized that Letty was just a girl like any other. She needed someone to tell her that she was beautiful outside of her family who was obligated to say such things. She needed someone to care, to make her feel like the wonderful woman that she was. And damn if Dom didn't want to the that person. He didn't speak any words just kissed her on the lips. It was sweet and comforting. He took her hand and lead her into her prom. _

_The music was corny and the food was bad. Letty and Dom laughed most of the night at her poindexter classmates dance. Finally a song that Dom thought that was worthy played. He hadn't let go of her hand all night took her to the dance floor._

"_What are you doing?"_

"_Most people dance at their proms, Let."_

"_You know how to dance?" She said the arched eyebrow._

_Dom grabbed his chest. "You wound me, woman." Then his eyes locked with hers and he took her other hand and intertwined them with his. "Just follow my lead."_

_For the first time Letty surrendered to someone. She let down her walls that she __built__ up after her father died. She was just a girl dancing with a boy. _

One guy took his hand a little too south and she had to reprimand him by grabbing his crotch. "Move your hand any further and your Friday nights are gonna be lonely." She said sweetly.

The guy fidgeted. "Yeah. I got it."

"Good." She pushed him off and headed to the bar.

"Brutal." The boss leaned against the bar with a wide tooth grin.

"Boy needed to learn some manners."

He laughed. "Ramon Campos." He extended his hand.

"Letty."

He waived the bar tender over. "What can I get you?"

Letty smiled. "Tequila."

"Two, Freddie."

The barkeeper nodded and poured two shots of Tequila. Campos held his up and Letty did the same. They both drank. Five shots later they were both were sitting in the back of the club in a lounge chair.

"So what's Braga about?" Letty asked taking a sip of beer.

Campos leaned back in his chair. "You know, he's just one of us. He came over on a dory from Cuba with his mother. Grew up on the streets of Miami. Down for el barrio you know... he had to fight his way to the top. Now he's a shot caller. The boss of bosses. See all these cats in here? Any one of them would die for Braga."

Letty tipped her beer bottle at him. "Including you?"

He smiled. "Especially me."

Letty looked at him there was something off about him that she couldn't place. Something about the way he was talking about Braga was off. It wasn't like he was telling a second hand story, it was more like he was speaking of first had experience, like a memory.

"And what about you? Tell me the story of the beautiful, Letty."

Letty shrugged and took a sip of her beer. "Nothing much to tell. I was a military brat. Lived in Texas, North Carolina, Hawaii, Germany, North Korea. My father died when I was ten, moved in with my Abuelita and primas. Did some racing. Now I'm sitting here with you."

"You forgot the part about hijacking semi trucks full of electronics. About what six million worth of product?"

She flashed him a mischievous smile. "More like eight."

Campos laughed. "A woman after my own heart." He clinked glasses with her.

A man came up and whispered in Campos ear. He nodded and looked at her. "I want to finish this story, but I have a meeting to attend. Stay, drinks on me." He got up. "And try not to beat up my patrons. A guy has to make a honest living." He smiled and left with the guy.

Letty took a long drink of her beer. She pulled out her phone and called Doogie.

"Speak."

"Is that how you answer the phone?"

"Hey, Letty."

"Everything cool?"

"Yeah, you're out of cool ranch Doritos."

Letty laughed. "I'll put it on the shopping list. Look I should be back in a couple of hours."

"Cool, take your time. I'm like on level eight on Zelda."

She hung up the phone and there was a beer in her face. She looked up and it was Racer Barbie.

"Campos sent me to keep you company." She sat across from Letty. They both were sizing each other up trying to see who was full of shit.

"So you and Campos?" Letty asked. She knew how to play nice when needed.

Gisele laughed. "No. I don't mix business with pleasure. It never ends well."

Letty nodded in agreement. "It tends to get messy, doesn't?"

"You speaking from experience?"

She was quiet for a moment, trying to decide how much truth she was willing to divulge and how much shit she was going to shovel. "I got involved with a guy I worked with. Loved him like a mutha. Shit got bad. Thought we had something strong enough to stand anything..."

"Then he broke your heart."

"Something like that."

The two woman were quiet both reflecting on the men that broke their hearts. Letty laughed inwardly. The last thing she thought she would be doing this night was bonding with the people she was going to bring down. She wondered if it was like this for Brian. So easy to line the truth with bullshit. Sure she worked with Dom and loved him, but her heart wasn't broken. It was bruised maybe, but not broken. She wouldn't allow him to have that power over her. She gulped down the rest of her beer and then ordered another one.

* * *

Letty woke up with a major headache. Her head was pounding and the room was blurry. She looked around and realized that she wasn't at home. "Oh shit."

* * *

Translations

bastante de esto- enough of this

nieta- granddaughter

Usted parece una princesa hermosa- You look like a beautiful princess.

chingadera-Piece of crap

Mira- look

cocina- kitchen

niñitos-children

quince-15th birthday

* * *

Thanks for reading and please let me know what you think.

Tonya


	24. Chapter 24

Zan woke up stretched and went to relive himself in his mom's bathroom. He then realized that it wasn't foggy. It was always foggy in her bathroom after she took a shower. He scratched his head and went downstairs. He found a strange guy sleeping on the couch with Runner on top of him. He checked the kitchen and the garage and there still wasn't any sign of his mother. Zan got worried. He ran into his room and got his cell.

"You got Letty. Leave a message and I'll get back at you."

"Mom, where are you? And, whose the guy on the couch?"

He decided to get ready for school. Afterwards he called her again, he got her voice mail again. Zan frowned and made a bowl of cereal. He thought about waking up the guy on the couch and asked him where his mom was, but he decided against it. He looked like he needed the sleep. He let Runner out and called his mother again. Voice mail. Zan grabbed his book bag and the spare keys and went out the door. Letty always drove him to school so he wasn't sure where his bus stop actually was. He saw Summer a girl that was in the fourth grade.

"Hey Summer." Zan ran up to her.

She looked surprised to see him. "Hey Zan. Thought your Mom drove you to school?"

"She does, but she thought I ride the bus today."

"Oh, then why are you going the wrong way?"

He blushed and rubbed his hair. "Oh."

"Come on." She smiled taking his hand. They were at the crosswalk waiting for the light to change.

Summer was blabbing about what girls babbled about. Zan wasn't paying attention he was worried about his mother. She was always there when he woke up. In fact she promised him that she would be. He pulled out his phone and called again. He got her voice mail.

"Mom, I'm taking the bus to school. Where are you? I'm worried." He put the phone back in his bag.

"Hurry up!" Summer shouted at the other end of the street. "The bus is coming." She pointed at the yellow bus in the distance. Without looking Zan darted out in the middle of the street. He didn't see the car barreling towards him.

Letty sat up and looked around the room confused. She wasn't at home. Slowly she dragged herself out of bed her feet hitting the cold wooden floor. She ran her fingers through her hair trying to remember the night before. The last thing she could recall was doing shots with Racer Barbie at Campos' night club. She looked around the room and saw her jeans sprawled across a chair on the other side of the room. She got up to retrieve them but immediately regretted her decision to do so. She sat back down for a moment then got dressed. The house she was in was huge and very decadent. It belong to someone with money. She heard voices downstairs and followed the sound. She knocked softly as she slowly opened the door. Campos was at a large wooden desk looking pensive with another man who looked like the Spanish Colonel Sanders. "Ramon?" She croaked out. She winced at the sound of her voice.

He looked up and and smiled. "We can continue this tomorrow." He told the Colonel. The old man nodded and got up. He straighten his suit jacket and shook Ramon's hand.

"Looks like you need these more than I do." He handed her an aspirin bottle. She smiled and nodded.

Campos got up from his seat grinning. "Buenos días, Beautiful."

"Where am I?"

"My place."

Letty arched her eyebrow. Campos laughed. "Relax. You and Gisele had one too many. And I brought you here. I can't have one of my drivers getting a DUI and going to jail." He took the aspirin bottle from her hand. "Bad for business."

"And what business is that?"

He laughed again. "For me to know and you to find out."

Letty looked around Campos' office. There was one picture that caught her attention. It was a black and white picture of an old church. Letty wasn't much into architecture but there was something about the old church that held her attention. She was brought back from her thoughts by Campos handing her a glass of water. He opened the aspirin bottle and poured two in her hand.

She took both gratefully and swallowed down the pills. "What time is it?"

He looked at his watch, " A little pasted 9:30."

"Shit." She shoved the glass in Campos chest and ran out of the office.

"Where you going. I thought we could have breakfast."

"I have to go." She looked around and found her jacket on a table by the front door. She fumbled through her jacket pockets. "Where my keys?"

He pulled them out of his pocket. "I had one of my men drive your car here."

"Thanks." She opened the front door and the sun was glaring down in her eyes. She put her hand over her eyes and turned back around. "Hey can I have those aspirins?"

He tossed the bottle to her. "See ya, Beautiful."

She slammed the door to the Roadrunner and pulled out her phone. She looked at her call log. She had five missed calls from Zan and ten from Mia. She was about to call Mia when the phone rang.

"Letty?"

"Mia, what's going on?"

"Jesus, Letty where have you been? I've been trying to call you all morning." Mia snapped.

"I was with a friend and I had a few drinks and past out."

"You were out drinking and left your son alone?"

"I didn't leave him alone. I had a friend watching him."

"Well he didn't do a good job." Mia voice was cracking. "Let, Zan was hit by a car trying to catch a the school bus."

At that moment Letty's world stopped. She couldn't breath. "What?" She managed to croak out.

"He was crossing the street trying to catch the school bus and a car hit him. It was some woman taking her husband to work. He just darted out there Let." Mia was crying over the phone. "Just get here."

"Is he?" Letty didn't want to asked the question, but she had to know. Because if she had lost her son she might as well walk back to Campos and tell him that she was an informant and let him do what he did to all the other drivers. Because without her son, she would die anyway.

"He's scared and he needs his mother."

Letty broke almost every traffic law trying to get to the hospital and was there in no time flat. She ran to the front desk. "Alexander Ortiz. He was brought here this morning." She said the the attendant at the front desk.

The woman didn't look up from her magazine. "Sign in here."

"No my son already here. Alexander Ortiz." She said once again.

She woman huffed. "You have to sign in before a doctor can see you."

Letty was getting angry. "Look you fucking cow." She hit the counter. "Alexander Ortiz he was brought here earlier. Where the fuck is he."

The woman now looked up. "Look you need to calm down..."

"No I need for you to tell me where my fucking son is before I snap your neck." Letty said in a tone that would have frozen hell.

"Let me look." The woman coward.

"It's ok Rose. I'll take her back." Mia emerged from behind the counter.

"You look like shit." Mia said. "What's going on. This isn't you."

"I just need to see him."

They got in the elevator and Mia pushed the fifth floor button. They were quiet in the elevator. It couldn't go fast enough for Letty. Finally after forever they got to the floor.

"Which room?"

"He's not on this floor."

"Then why the hell are we here?"

"Because you look like shit and smell like a brewery. I'm not letting him see you like this. I got some spare clothes. Take a shower and get your shit together." Mia lead her to the nurse's locker room where she could shower.

When Letty finish showering Mia handed her jeans and a tee shirt. "So you gonna tell me or is this part of your big secret life?" She snapped.

"I just want to see him, Mia." Letty pulled the shirt over her head. She had a hangover and worried as hell about Zan. She slipped into the jeans and put back on her boots. "Ready."

Mia nodded and took Letty to the children's ward. Letty stopped at the door. He was lying in the bed sleeping. A young woman was sitting with him.

"I had Julie to sit with him. She's great with kids."

Letty started to heave, she couldn't feel her legs. She fell against the wall behind her. Everything came flooding back. Her father dying, losing Francis, Dom going to jail, the heists, Vince, Jesse, her car flipping over, Brian, watching Leon drive away in Baja, Zan getting sick, and Dom walking away. She felt like her world was crumbling, much like the day she saw Dom almost beat a man to death.

_It was one of those sticky hot LA summer days. Letty's felt like she was drowning in her own sweat. She had finally got Dom back in Mac and Frank's Auto Shop and Detail. It had been two weeks and he barely said a word to anyone. _

_Everyone had left for lunch but Dom didn't feel much like eating so he stayed behind. He needed the monotony of working on cars. Something he had control over. If brakes were bad he could replace them. Oil changes, tire rotation. It was calming and Letty knew he needed it. She stood watching him work quietly for a while. She decided to tell him that she was leaving at the end of the month for school. She hadn't mention school since her graduation. The last weeks were about Dom and Mia. Like Dom needed the garage, Mia needed to take care of someone, so Letty allowed her to go shopping for her for all her back to school needs. Mia had gone over board with everything of course, but she didn't mind. _

"_Hey." She said biting the back of his shoulder._

"_Letty." Dom growled. "Are you getting frisky?" He turned to look at her. She was sweaty and grimy. And he thought she never looked so good. He tucked a stray hair behind her ear and kissed her softly on the cheek. "I need to get these tires rotated."_

"_Fine." Letty huffed and slid under a car._

_Letty didn't hear Linder walk in the garage or Dom arguing with him. But what reached her ears was the guttural cries for help of a man about to die. She quickly rolled out and saw Dom beating Linder with a wrench._

"_Dom!" She yelled running over to him._

_It was like he was in a trance he didn't see or hear anything all he could do was beat down on Linder. It wasn't until Letty got herself in his face did Dom stop. He blinked unaware of his actions._

"_Jesus, Dom what the fuck?" Letty cried trying to comfort the man groaning on the floor._

_Dom looked down and saw what he did and he dropped the wrench. _

"_Don't just stand there! Call 911!" _

_Dom obeyed picking up the phone. He could barely get out the words that a man was attacked and bleeding to death. When the operator asked him who did this to him. Dom croaked. "I did."_

_Everything was in slow motion. The ambulance coming, the cops handcuffing Dom and putting him in the squad car, Mac, Vince, and the others asking Letty what happened. All she could stare at the floor where blood and oil mixed._

Mia was scared she never seen Letty like this. She was shaking in her arms crying. Letty was the strong one, she held everything together always and now she was in her arms crumbling. She stroked her hair and tried to reassure her that everything was going to be alright.

"Mom?"

It wasn't until Letty heard Zan's small voice did she gather herself. She looked up and saw her heart in a hospital bed with his leg in cast hanging. She wiped her face and entered the room.

"Hey Kiddo." She kissed him on the top of his head. "How you feeling?"

"Where were you? I called." He cried.

Letty wiped the tears from his face. "I'm sorry." She kissed him again. "You don't know how sorry. I fucked up."

This time Zan wiped the tears. He smiled weakly. "You cussed. Five bucks."

Letty couldn't help but laugh. "Usted es mi corazón."

"Te amo también."

The doctor came in to talk to Letty about Zan. "He was lucky. It was a clean break, it should heal nicely. He has a sprain wrist and some cuts and bruises but he will be fine..."

"Can I still surf?"

Mia and Letty both laughed.

The doctor shook his head. "Not until the cast comes off. You need to keep it dry. And I want you to do some physical therapy before you hit the waves. To make sure everything alright."

Zan made a face. Mia shook her head at her nephew. He was so much like Dom at times a one track mind. For her brother it was cars and for him it was surfing. "Maybe when you get all better you can show me how to hang ten."

Zan laughed hard. "Hang ten? Do you even know what that means, Aunt Mia."

"No, but still what to learn."

He turned to Letty. "What you think? Should we show her?"

"I don't know, Kiddo. Mia kinda looks like a crazed fish when she swims." Letty made a crazy fish face that got Zan laughing.

"I do not." Mia swatted Letty.

"Yeah you do. But, since it what the kid wants..."

"Thank you so much..." Mia rolled her eyes and turned to the doctor. "So Dr. Cooper when can we take Zan home."

Dr. Cooper put his pen in his pocket. "I want to keep him overnight for observation. But he can leave in the morning."

Mia walked out with the Doctor talking about the medication that Zan would be taking. Letty took Zan's hand in hers and kissed it.

"I'm sorry."

"You don't have anything to be sorry for. I broke my promise to you. I wasn't there."

Zan sniffled. "But, I should waited. I didn't look both ways..."

"Hey, hey, it's not your fault. I don't want you to think that ok." Letty ran her fingers through his unruly hair. "You need a hair cut."

He smirked. "I want to grow it long. Like Danny's."

Letty laughed. "Ok." She laid her head on his stomach and closed her eyes. They both fell asleep holding hands.

Mia stood at the door and watched Letty and Zan sleep. It was the most beautiful thing seeing Letty like that, motherly. She wondered how her brother was with his son. Was he like their father? Caring but sterned. Then Mia got mad. Mad at her brother, mad at Letty. How could they have a child and not tell her. Deprive her of the joy of being an aunt. She crept around the corner and into the vestibule and made a much needed call.

* * *

Hope you enjoy take time to let me know what you think.

Tonya


	25. Chapter 25

Dom was working on a red Cadillac when a little boy kicked his shoe. He pulled himself out. "What?"

"Vous avez un appel téléphonique." The little boy said.

Dom looked at him. He really had to work on his French. "Um Repeato...shit..." Frustrated he ran his hand over his head. "What now?"

The boy rolled his eyes. He put his fingers to his ear. "Vous avez un appel téléphonique." He motioned.

"I got a phone call?" He repeated the action.

The boy nodded. Dom gave him a dollar and the boy ran away screaming "J'ai obtenu un dollar!"

He waded through the sea of children who all wanted a dollar to the telephone in the bar. Marques the bartender was wiping down the counter.

"It's a woman. Sounds pretty. Is she your lady?" He spoke in a thick French accent.

Dom chuckled. "Mia, I told you not to call me here."

"I debated if I should tell you at all. But, he's your son and I know how much it hurts to be away from your family."

"What's going on."

"Zan got hurt. He was hit by a car."

There was a long silence.

"Is he ok?"

"He'll be fine psychically, but Dom he's hurting. So is Letty."

"Mia, I left to protect them."

"You know what Dom, don't. You always think that you had to be this big protector that had to take care of everyone. But we had everything already. We were a family, Dom. I've spent the last eight years blaming myself for everything. I thought because I brought Brian in I cause our family to break up. But the last months since Letty got back I realized something. This family was breaking apart long before Brian showed up. It was your selfishness that was slowly poisoning us. Brian was just a scapegoat, someone to blame."

"Mia." Was all Dom could say.

"You need to fix this."

His sister hung the phone on him. Dom sat on the bar stool with his head in his hands.

"Son you look like you need a beer." Marques poured. "So what's your next move? Sit here and drink beer or fix it with the pretty lady on the phone?"

* * *

Mia shook Letty awake. She didn't stir. "Leticia." Mia whispered. That woke her up.

"What?" She stretched out.

"Whose the teenager?" Mia pointed to Doogie standing in the door frame waiving.

She smiled. "What are you doing here?"

He hesitantly walked in the room. He looked liked he got his hand caught in the cookie jar. "I wanted to make sure your son was ok." He stuck his hands in his pocket. "I mean, you trusted me enough to watch him and I let him out the door."

"Not your responsibility to take care of my son, Austin. Don't put that burden on yourself. Ok?"

He nodded. "I brought him his PSP. I figured he would want something to do."

Letty told Mia that Doogie was a kid she knew from working at Harry's and she had taken him under her wing because he reminded her so much of Jesse.

Zan took to Doogie right away. To look at them it would seem that Doogie was Zan's older brother.

"Austin told me about his Dad." Mia said handing Letty a coffee. "I was thinking we could clear out the basement. He's a good kid, he should have a place to go to feel safe."

Letty blew on her coffee and smiled. This was the Mia Toretto she knew and loved ready to take care of the world one hug at a time. "Sounds good."

Mia had pulled some strings and got Letty a cot so she could stay with Zan. She tried to get comfortable but sleep wasn't easy. She felt a buzz in her pocket it was Brian. With everything with Zan she had forgot all about her meeting with Campos. She took her call outside.

"Hey."

"Where you been? Harry said he hasn't seen you all day?"

"I'm at the hospital."

"Are you alright?"

"I wasn't there for my son, Brian. He was hit by a car and I could have lost him. And I can't be alright with that."

"Jesus Letty why didn't you call me?"

"Everything happened so fast...I met up with Braga's team."

"Wait, what? Damn it Letty you went into Braga camp with out telling me? You should have been wired, what if something happened to you. I made a promise to Leon to keep you safe. I can't protect you if you don't fill me in on the details."

She could feel the frustration in his voice. She felt like she was messing up everything, with Zan, Mia, and now Brian. She let out a long sigh. "I didn't think. But I met Braga's team."

"Where are you?"

"I'm still at the hospital with my son, they're keeping him overnight."

"Which one. I'll meet you there."

"Don't think that's a good idea. This is Mia's hospital."

Brian was quiet. He wanted to see Mia to explain everything to her. But he knew it was a bad idea. "I'm an FBI agent, Letty I'm trained in stealth."

She laughed. "Well you suck at it cause Vince figured you out from jump."

"I need to see you."

There was an odd pleading in his voice that Letty couldn't quite make out. "Echo Park Hospital."

* * *

Brian knocked on Trihn desk. "Sophie wake up. Grab your coat you're coming with me."

She picked up her head from her desk. "I was having this great dream that I was on the sunny beach with two hot men in banana hammocks fanning me with palm leaves." She looked at him. "And you were far, far, away." She buried her head back in her arms.

"Letty met up with Braga's team."

She perked up. "Really?"

Brain flashed his pearly whites.

It didn't take Brain and Sophie long to reach the hospital. Brian called Letty from the parking lot. She told him to meet her in the stairwell on the children's ward.

Brian hugged Letty when he saw her. "How's your son?"

"Good to see you too, O'Conner." She said looking at him oddly. "He gonna be in a cast for a while. But, he's good. He's more upset about not being able to surf than anything else."

"Oh, Letty this is Agent Sophie Trihn."

Letty did a head nod.

"Hello."  
"Well, what the deal?"

She leaned against the wall propping her leg up. "He's got this guy named Campos running things for him. Campos got two people working for him. A real dick head named Fenix and a super model named Gisele. They find the racers and bring them to Campos."

"So what does Braga want with the racers?" Sophie asked.

Letty shrugged. "Don't know. Hauling something heavy that pays a shitload. They just had us met up." Letty put her hands in her jacket pocket. That's when she felt the pill bottle. "I forgot I had this." She handed it to Brian. "Campos gave this to me. Maybe it's got prints or something."

Sophie got out a zip lock bag from her pocket. "I'll take that. We should get it analyzed just to see if there are any prints left." The she took out a thumb pad. "I'm going to need your prints to rule yours out."

Letty looked at Brian and arched her eyebrow. "It's ok, Letty."

Reluctantly she placed her thumbs on the pad. "I'll go call this in."

Brian waited until Sophie was out of earshot before he spoke. "So how are you?"

Letty leaned against the wall again and stared up the spiraling stairs. "I don't know if I can do this anymore."

"It's ok if you want to back out. I wouldn't hold you against you if you did. You have your son to think about."

"What about Dom?"

Brian sighed. "I don't know. Maybe if we can pull some prints from the pill bottle we can make a case with the information we already have."

Her eyes started to water. "I need him to come back." She dried her eyes with her hands.

"You know the thing with Dom was always a long shot. It's not worth you putting yourself through hell."

She laughed and got real quiet. "Why'd you let Dom go?"

He looked at her. That was a question he had asked himself a thousand times since. He leaned against the wall next to her. He looked down staring at his shoes. "Because at that moment, I respected him more than I did myself." He looked up at Letty. "One thing I learned from Dom is that nothing really matters unless you have a code."

"What your code, O'Conner?"

"When I find out you'll be the first to know."

She just looked at him with her big brown eyes. Brian understood now the power that Letty had over Dom how just one look could render him under her control.

_Mia pulled up to Harry's. "You should really thank Letty for saving your ass today." She said shutting the car off._

"_Letty, why?"_

_Mia tapped the steering wheel. "Dom can be a bit overprotective. It's smothering sometimes. He was going to let Vince kick your ass."_

_Brian chuckled. "Unlikely."_

_Mia shook her head. "You shouldn't count Vince out."_

"_I'll remember that. But why should I thank, Letty."_

"_Like I said, Dom was fine with Vince kicking your ass. Even after I asked him to do something."_

_Brian smiled. "You asked him help me?"_

_She rolled her eyes. "I had to get Letty to make him. She's got this hold over him. It's weird. My brother can be like a bull in a china shop. Destroying anything and everything in his path. I have to beg Dom at times to do things for me. All she does is look at him and he snaps at attention."_

"_So Dom's whipped?"_

"_I wouldn't say whipped more like mesmerized."_

"What?" Letty asked.

"You know I never thanked you."

"For what?"

"Mia said I should have thanked you for getting Dom to get Vince off my back that day. I never did."

Letty laughed. "Hindsight twenty-twenty. Maybe I should of let Vince kick your ass."

They both got quiet at the mention of Vince's name. "Have you heard from him?"

She shook her head. "No. Mia got a letter a month or so after he broke out of the hospital. Said he was in Canada." Letty laughed. "He's probably a mountain man with a blue ox and ax."

"V chopping wood. I would love to see that. In fact I would buy tickets to see that." He looked at his shoes. There was a silence between them again. "I should go."

"Alright...Hey."

Brian turned around. "I need you to take the Roadrunner back to Harry's and bring me my jeep. I came her straight from Campos." Letty tossed him her keys. It wasn't until Brian was down a few steps did he realize what Letty said. She came straight from Campos. He ran back up the stairs to ask what she meant. But that's when he saw Mia. He stood frozen to the ground as he looked at Mia. She looked exactly the same as the day that everything fell apart. Right then he wanted to tell her that he was sorry, that his feelings for her were real. Most of all he wanted her forgiveness. Then reality kicked in and he knew that she shouldn't see him so he ran back into the stairwell.

* * *

Translations

(french) Vous avez un appel téléphonique- You have a telephone call

J'ai obtenu un dollar- I got a dollar

* * *

**A/N**

So wow 100 reviews thanks alot guys for taking the time to read and review. I know I probably sound like a broken record but it does mean alot. Especially those of you who have stuck with me from the start. And thanks for those you just enjoy reading this. Any-who hope you enjoy this chappy and if you have the time drop a line, let me know what you think.

Tonya :)


	26. Chapter 26

Mia decided to give Letty and Zan some time alone so she went home to get some rest. But rest didn't come easy to her. She tried to sleep but all she did was toss and turned. She felt like she was losing her family all over again. She had called her brother and got out pent up anger she had for him in a while. She never been this angry at him before but she wasn't sorry for what she said, she meant it.

Frustrated Mia got out of bed. She went into Zan's empty room. She was amazed how she had fallen for her nephew so quickly. He was so much like Dom when he was younger, the brother that she idolized, sweet and funny.

_Mia sighed at her father's stubbornness. The older man shook his head. "He put in the wretch time. It's his choice."_

_She plopped her spoon in her cereal. "But you can make him." She whined._

"_The wheels on the bus go round and round." Dom sang._

_Frankie shook his head at his children. "It's his car Mia."_

_She threw wet cereal at her brother. "I hate you."_

_Dom dodged the the fruit loops tossed at him. "The wheels on the bus go round and round." He kept taunting._

_Mia placed her bowl in the sink. "Could you at least tell him to stop singing."_

"_The wheels on the bus go round and round. Round and Round." Dom kept singing. "All the way through town..."  
_

The Dom that came out of Lompoc wasn't her brother. He would show signs of being him every now and then especially when the team came together. The way he would joke with Leon and Jesse. How him and Vince still acted like the same ten years olds fighting over tonka trucks.

She went into Letty's room. Like her Letty didn't change much in the room. The pictures were still on the nightstand, the furniture in the same spots. She noticed a shoe box of letters on the bed. She glanced over one and figured out these were the letters Letty sent Dom during his time in Lompoc. She read a few of them with tears streaming down her checks. She always knew that her brother and Letty had this connection even as kids, but she never knew how strong. Letty was Dom's anchor in every sense of the word. Mia placed the letters back and it got her wondering, what was Dom to Letty?

She decided since she couldn't sleep she bring some fresh clothes to Letty and Zan.

* * *

She was just a few feet away from Zan's room when someone caught her eye, Brian O'Conner. He stood there looking at her with the same blue eyes when he told her that he was a cop. It was a mix of remorse and love.

_Letty flopped down on Mia's bed and laid back. She took a long deliberate sigh to get Mia's attention since she had been avoiding her all night. Letty took another sigh. Mia shook her head and stared into her closet._

"_I'm not talking about it, Letty so forget about it." Mia said pulling out a pair of jeans and a top. She laid them on the bed next to Letty. _

"_Fine, be that way." Letty quipped as she leaned forward to get up. Then Mia hopped on the bed bouncing like a teenager._

"_It was the best date I've gone on in a while. I mean he actually looked at my eyes and not my breast. He talked about other things besides cars and Dom. I mean he really wanted to get to know me."_

_Letty laughed. "Yeah?"_

"_Yeah. I really like him."_

_Letty was quiet she still hadn't decided wither or not she liked this Brian Spillner. "Dom was pretty pissed when you didn't come home last night."_

_Mia shrugged. "He needs to get over it." She said as she started to change her clothes._

"_It's not that easy for him. You know that."_

_Mia pulled her shirt over her head. "I'm tired of him trying to run my life. I'm not a kid anymore."_

"_You and him never fought like this before."_

_Mia glared at her. "Don't blame mine and Dom's problems on Brian. This has been brewing for a while. Ever since he got back..." She was getting misty eyed. "I don't want to get into, Letty. Not tonight."_

_Letty wanted to say more, but decided not. She let Mia have this one. "So you really like Blondie?"_

She blinked again and he was gone. She shrugged if off thinking that she was seeing things because of all the stress.

Mia found Letty staring out the window. The moonlight was reflecting on her face. Mia wished that she had her camera to take a picture she hadn't seen Letty so pretty since her senior prom night.

"I couldn't sleep." Mia said placing the bag of clothes on the foot of the bed.

Letty folded her arms together and stared out into the moonlight. "Mac and Frankie were the best damn mechanics... they could just listen and know what was up a car." She chuckled lightly. "Mac said if he could talk to women like he could talk to cars then he wouldn't be paying two alimonies." She turned around and looked at Zan sleeping in the bed. "As good as mechanics they were, they were shit at the books." She paused still not wanting to meet Mia's eyes. This was a long time coming. She had fought with Dom about telling Mia the truth about their father. Letty believed that Mia deserved to know everything, but Dom didn't want her to loose the wonderment she held for her father. "They were bankrupted." She sighed. "Frankie had put two mortgages out on your house, but it still wasn't enough... He wanted you to go to college."

Mia sat down confused. She had no idea what Letty was rambling on about. Everything was fine back then. They were happy.

"Then the Tide Circuit races came up the prize money was enough to hold off the creditors for a while. So Frankie put his heart and soul into his car in hopes of paying off some of his debuts."

Mia shook her head. "Then he died." She croaked.

Letty nodded still not looking at her. "Yeah and then Dom went to jail. Mac did his best with the shop. He went months without a paycheck just so you and Dom wouldn't lose the house. He had to let some of the guys go. Vince was basically working for free. I volunteered to help, but Mac wouldn't have it. He wanted me to stay in school. But, I came down on weekends. We held off as long as we could. But the shop went bankrupt and Mac had to sell it. By then Dom was out, but there was a whole new set of problems. Lawyer fees, the civil suit Linder's family filed, back taxes on the shop and the house."

Mia was crying now. "We had Dad's insurance money."

Letty shook her head. "Wasn't enough." She turned back around focusing on the moon. "That's when I introduced Dom to Tran. You know how the deal with Johnny played out..."

Mia started to pace she couldn't take anymore. "Why are you telling me this, now? After all this time?"

Letty shrugged. "Because you need to know the reasons why Dom did the things he did. Dom is stubborned, selfish bastard, but he loves you."

Mia was crying alligator tears by now. But Letty kept on going. "That's why we did the heist. To pay off everything at least that what we kept telling ourselves. But the second truck paid off the house, and even all the stuff with Linder." Letty smiled slightly. "The rest we did just because we could. We couldn't stop...we were addicted to the adrenaline."

Mia was developing a headache from crying so much. She stood across the room from Letty with her arms crossed. "What the hell Letty? If Dom would of told me. I would of worked more hours. ..I could of taken student loans."

Letty shook her head. "You know your brother. He didn't want you to make that sacrifice."

Finally she looked at Mia. "Dom was wrong about not telling you about everything that was going on back then. He thought by not telling you the truth that he was protecting you some how." She huffed. "But, I guess all that proved to be a bunch of bullshit now."

"Letty."

Letty held up her hand to quiet Mia. "I'm tired of the secrets, the lies. It's not worth it anymore. We lost too much."

Mia sat on the chair next to Zan's bed. He was still fast asleep. She ran her fingers through his curly dark hair. She needed to process all that Letty had told her.

"I'm working with Brian." Letty confessed.

"What?"

"I looked him up when I got back. I'm working undercover for him."

Mia was beyond confused.

"I just want him to come home."

Letty was finally able to look Mia in the eyes. She was confused, angry, and hurt. She had every right to be. She had lied to her, Dom, and Brian. All you could here in the room was the humming of the machines and Zan's breathing.

"Jesus, Letty." Mia got up and hug Letty. She held tight to Mia. Mia's warm tears were the absolution that she needed.

* * *

Brian didn't know that Stasiak was capable of a smile. But when he had filled him on the intel that Letty had provided to Stasiak was more than thrilled. The Braga case was wearing them all down. Brian sat at his desk and propped his feet up. Now all he had to do was wait for Sophie to pull the prints off of the pill bottle and then he could make the deal with Letty. Dom's name would be clear and so would his conscience. No longer did he have to live with the guilt that he had broken up Dom's family. He would have his forgiveness that he craved for. But, the look on Stasiak face burst his bubble. He sat straight up. "What?"

"Gather the team."

Brian and the other agents all sat in the conference room waiting for Stasiak to speak.

"We made some headway on the Braga case thanks to Agent O'Conner's informant, but it's not enough. I just got off the phone with Deputy Director Lawson. If we don't make serious inroads into the Braga case in the next 72 hours, they're gonna shut us down."

Everyone wore the same shocked expression. Sophie was the only one to speak. "I know I'm a newbie here but why the clock now?"

"Because it's been two years, and the last three agents we sent to infiltrate his organization came back in body bags. We got dead racers popping up like popcorn, people. He's moved more heroin across the border than Escobar did in 10 years. This guy is becoming one of our biggest national threats. " He yelled.

Brian shook his head. He couldn't believe this. After everything Letty did they were going to shut them down in 72 hours.

"Problem O'Conner?"

Sophie looked at him to try to shut him up, but Brian wasn't having any of it.

"This is bullshit and you know it." He pointed. "Letty just made more head way than any of our agents. We know that Braga's uses racers to move his products across the border. We just don't know how. Give her a chance."

"She got 72 hours to make some major headway."

Brian stormed out the the room fuming. "O'Conner!" Stasiak yelled after him and he was on Brian's heels.

"What!" Brian snapped.

Stasiak dragged Brian into his office. "You finished throwing your tantrum?"

Brian sat down crossing his legs. He buried his head in his hands. "This is bullshit. Letty's been through hell trying to infiltrate Braga's organization and now that's she in you're saying it's all over."

Stasiak threw a manila folder in his lap. "What's really going on with you and Ortiz?" He paced the room. "I read that file over and over again since you got assigned here trying to figure out why you let Toretto go." He stopped in front of Brian. "O'Conner do you know the difference between a cop and a criminal?"

Brian shook his head no. "What?"

"One bad judgment call. Now, get your shit in line son."

* * *

"How was your sleep over?" Fenix asked coming up to Campos as he took a swing of his golf club.

Compos watched the ball soar through the air with ease.

He gave Fenix a death glare. "Is the shipment ready?" He placed another ball on the tee.

"Yes."

"We move the shipment in 72 hours." He lined upped his golf club. "Have Gisele contact the drivers and get them ready." He swung sending the little white ball flying.

Fenix let out a whistle. "Good one boss."

* * *

Dom entered Mexico with ease. Now all he had to do was to find a car to take him to LA. He would be back there in another 72 hours. 72 hours until he would be back with his family, back to his son and Letty.

* * *

A/N: So, for some reason the conversation with Mia and Letty was hard for me to write. I wanted Letty to confess to her about the reason behind the heists and working with Brian. But it never flowed right to me. I've re worked it several times, but I'm still not satisfied with the result. Any-woo thanks for reading and drop a line tell me what you think.

Hope you had a good Thanksgiving if you celebrate it and if not I hope you had a great Thursday.

Tonya


	27. Chapter 27

It had been two days since Zan got home form the hospital. He was in high spirits considering everything he had been through. He had been Letty's little shadow wondering where she was going or doing every moment of the day. He sat on the couch waiting for his Mom to bring him his ice cream.

She handed Zan a bowel of ice cream and slid down on the floor. Mia had him prop up his leg if he was going to play video games.

"Mom I can't play sitting like this." He wiggled and tried to put his leg down, but Mia came into the room.

"Zan what did I tell you!" She scolded. She re adjusted the pillow under his leg. "You have to keep it elevated."

"Aunt Mia." Zan whined.

"Don't Aunt Mia me. What do you want for dinner?"

He shrugged and put a giant scoop of ice cream in his mouth. "I dunno know."

Mia sighed she knew it was useless. She looked at Letty taking some of the ice cream from the bowl. Mia was still reeling with the revelations that Letty told her about her father, the garage, and Dom. She spent the first day dazed and confused. The only time she wasn't thinking about everything was when she was with Zan. He was her saving grace. He could always make her laugh. Mia had been debating with herself the pass days wither to call Leon. Letty could be bull headed and made reason her distant friend. But, Leon always had a way to make her do what's right.

_It was a silent ride back to the house. Mia stroked Letty's hair in order to comfort her. She knew that Letty was hurting, but would never admit it. "We should get her to a doctor." Mia said breaking the silence. She could see Dom looking at her through the rear view mirror. _

"_We gotta get Jesse first." He said. _

_Leon turned to look at Letty. "She alright?"_

"_Keep driving." Dom ordered. _

_Leon sighed and kept focus on the road. Mia however was brewing in the back. "I didn't know."_

"_Not now Mia." Dom barked. _

"_I told you not to do this. I beg you not to, but you don't listen."_

_Dom turned around and glared at his sister. "I said not now." He growled._

_Mia gritted her teeth. "No. This is your fault. Look at her Dom. She's bleeding to death back here!"_

"_I'm fine." Letty mumbled. "But all this fighting isn't helping my headache. So shut the fuck up."_

_Leon and Letty's eyes meet in the mirror. He just smirked._

"_I'm coming with you." Letty breathed out. Dom was furiously packing her bags. Not listening. He chucked her bags down the stairs. _

"_Leon!" He barked. _

_Leon stood at the end of the steps and grabbed the bags. Dom returned to the room. Letty was still sitting on the foot of the bed. Her face was still covered in dirt and blood._

"_I'll meet you and Leon as soon as I find Jesse."_

"_We find Jesse."_

"_Letty."_

"_You said it was you and me, Dom. Ride or die. I'm not leaving you here to deal with this all alone." _

_Dom knew the look on her face all to well. She wasn't giving in no matter what he did or said._

"_Letty move your ass!" Leon yelled from the steps. _

_Slowly Letty got up and stood at the top of the steps. "You go."_

_Mia came out of her room. "Letty, you can't stay here." She pleaded. _

_Letty cut her eyes at Mia. But, she wasn't backing down. "You need to see a doctor."_

"_There doctors here."_

_Dom ran his hand over his head frustrated. "Leon talk some sense into her."_

_Leon climbed the stairs slowly. "C'mon baby girl. We got to go. You'll just slow Dom down by staying. You know all your man is gonna be doing is making sure your not going to fall apart on him. You know you got him whipped."_

_Letty rolled her eyes. Leon placed his hands on both of Letty's shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "Dom will find Jesse, Mia waits for Vince, and me and you will be on a beach in Baja sniping on some fruity concoction with an umbrella working on our tans."_

_She smiled. "Yeah your white ass needs some sun."_

_Leon and Dom helped Letty down the stairs and to the car. _

"_Come on you know you want to." Letty said to Mia who was hesitantly standing back._

_A smile crept across Mia's face as she hugged Letty. "Love you." She whispered in Letty's ear. "Be careful."_

_Letty nodded. "Love you too, girl." _

_Mia walked back into the house, but not without glaring at her brother._

_Dom brought Letty closer to him. He brushed her mated hair out of her face. His hand rested there._

"_We got to go." Leon said getting into the driver side. "Tell her you love her and kiss already." He ordered._

_Dom smirked and did what Leon ordered._

_Letty bit her lip and slowly got into the car. _

"_It's gonna be ok." Leon said driving away._

Mia shook her head as she watched them devour their bowl of ice cream. The doorbell rang and Runner jumped up warning off who ever was at the door.

"Doorbell." Zan said with a mouth full. Letty just sat there grinning taking another scoop in her mouth.

Mia kicked Letty's leg playfully. "Oh don't get up." She held back the beast as she opened the door.

Austin stood there looking pitiful. Runner broke lose of Mia's hold and jumped up licking him in the face. "Hey boy." He took Runner by the collar to calm him down.

Mia smiled warmly. The only good thing that had come out of this whole crazy situation with Letty was Austin. He was an incredibly sweet kid. "Glad your here."

"How you living Doogie." Letty said making room for him on the couch.

Austin leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling. "My dad kicked me out." He sat up and looked at Letty. "I didn't know where else to go."

Mia smiled. "You're always welcomed here. But, on one condition."

"What?"

"You decided what for dinner cause these two think that ice cream counts as a meal."

Zan and Letty laughed. "I'll grab the take out menus." Letty said hoping up.

Letty was relieved that Mia had a new project to mother. Between Zan and Austin she would be too busy to focus on her and the revelations that she told her a day before. She took Runner out to get some air. It was a clear LA night, so clear that you could make out the stars. Runner took to digging a hole next the the fence. She snapped for him to follow her into the garage. She stood at the doorway, it was like a time capsule locking in the better days of her childhood. Back when Frankie was alive. She would spend her Sunday afternoons watching him and Dom work on the charger. Mia would be sunbathing on a lawn chair yapping on the cordless phone to her annoying ditsy friends. Her Abuelita would be back at her house preparing her empanadas and fresh salsa for the barbecue. Stacy would be trying some new hairstyle on an unwilling Allison. Just as the sky started turning a reddish orange Vince would always make his way of to the house just in time for dinner. Frankie would said grace over the table thanking God for family, friends, and good food. Those were the kind of nights she wished for her son. The kind of nights filled with innocence, wonderment, and a little mischievousness. Those were the kind of nights she fell for Dom. Letty climbed in the driver side of the Charger and closed her eyes.

_It was chilly for a LA night but Letty stood in the door frame of the Toretto's house garage and watched Dom as he tinkered away at the Charger him and his father were building together. Their relationship had taken an unexpected but pleasant turn. They decided not to call their relationship anything but what it was. What that was Letty had no idea. So she stood there watching Dom work. There was something mesmerizing about watching Dom work on the Charger. The way he would wipe his brow with his forearm or how he would crinkle his nose when he couldn't figure out what he should do next. The way his Adam's Apple bobbed up and down when he laughed. Little things that had gotten Letty's attention._

"_Hello Leticia." Frankie said._

_She jumped. "Hey." Letty blushed._

_Dom grabbed a towel and wiped his hands. He gave Letty a lopsided grin. Frankie looked at the two teenagers and shook his head. If they thought that they were fooling anyone they were sorely mistaken. "I'm wrapping up the food. Wanted to know if you guys wanted anything before I send Vince home."_

_Dom chuckled. "I'm good." _

_Letty stuffed her hands in her pockets. "Naw."_

_Frankie nodded. "Alright. You kids have a good night." He laughed as he left. _

_Dom walked over to Letty closing the distance between them. "You were staring?" He said with a grin._

"_You wish big head." She brushed past him taking a look at the Charger. "It's looking good."_

_Once again Dom crowded her personal space. "Letty." He called her name from the back of his throat._

_Letty ignored the shiver that went down her spine. "Hand me the half inch torque." She stuck out her hand waiting for Dom to comply._

_Instead of handing her the tool Dom took her hand and pulled her towards him. "Letty." He smirked. _

_Dom got real serious. Things between him and Letty had changed. He told her not to label what they had, but Dom couldn't shake what he was feeling for her. She was far different from the other girls he had been with. He loved being with her and when he wasn't he was missing her."Letty this thing with..."_

"_Yo, Dom!" Vince bellowed. Both Dom and Letty broke away from each other. _

"_The carburetor isn't going to work." Dom ran his hand over his head. "What's up man." Dom said innocently. Letty just stuck her hands in her pockets and stared at her boots._

"_We on for tonight?" Vince came into the garage. He looked at Dom and Letty funny. "What's going on?"_

_Letty smiled. "Nothing, V." She paused and looked at Dom. "I'm out."_

_Letty walked out with her hands in her back pocket. Dom wished that they were his hands on her ass. She looked back and smiled. Dom couldn't help but smile back. _

"_You know you two ain't foolin' anybody." Vince said pointing at Letty. _

_Dom chucked. "Don't know what you mean, man." He went back working on the Charger._

"_Yeah whatever." He patted Dom on the back. "Play dumb."_

Mia stood and watched Letty sleep in the Charger. She looked peaceful she almost didn't want to wake her. "Letty." Mia called softly.

Letty stirred somewhat and Runner let out a yawn and put his head back on Letty's lap. Mia laughed softly. She wiped a tear that was falling. She knew that Letty was going to follow through with her plan to bring back her brother no matter how much she protested.

Letty woke to the sound of sniffling. She rolled her neck to get the kinks out. "Mia?"

"You're going to do this aren't you?"

Letty yawned. "Do what?"

Mia gave her a don't play dumb look. "This plan of yours with Brian... Why can't you just drop it. After everything that has happened why can't you just let it go? Dom left. He left, you, Zan, me..." Mia eyes dropped. "Jesse."

"Don't bring Jess in this." Letty snapped.

Mia wasn't backing down. She was sick of it all Dom and Letty if they were set on getting themselves killed over bullshit then she would let them. "Don't worry Let, I'll look after Zan. Like I looked after everything else." Mia stormed out the the garage with tears streaming down her face.

Letty hit her head on the steering wheel. "Shit." She grabbed the Charger keys from the glove box and started the beast.

Zan stood at the patio door watching his mother and aunt. He knew that something was up and he figured that it had to do with his Dad. "Aunt Mia."

Mia gave her nephew her best smile. "Nephew." She wiped her face dry with her hands.

"Where's my mom going?"

"Taking the Charger for a run."

Zan gave her the Ortiz bullshit face.

Letty found herself pulling into the beach parking lot. It wasn't too late and people were still on the board walk. She let Runner out to stretch his legs. He jumped out with excitement exploring his new surroundings. Letty sat on the hood and people watched.

There was a young couple groping each other a few yards away. Letty thought back to the days that was her and Dom making out any chance they got. Then she saw an older couple walking hand and hand together. The man said something that made the woman to clutch his chest in laughter. Dom always joked when they got to old to race cars they would race their hover rounds around the old folks home. He would be the geriatric king of the home and Letty would be his old lady.

Runner whimpered as he jumped on the hood to get Letty's attention. "Watch the paint, boy." She shooed the dog down. She slid off the hood and pulled out her phone. "O'Conner."

Brian found Letty sitting on the beach rubbing the belly of a furry creature. "What the hell is that?" he laughed pointing at the dog.

"Runner, Zan's dog that he swore that he take care of." She laughed.

Brian sat beside her. Runner immediately took noticed and sniffed him, decided he was worthy and licked him in the face.

Letty snapped and the dog hopped off and laid his head on her lap. Brian wiped his face. "So, does this means he likes me?"

She shrugged. "He'll lick anyone."

They sat in silence for a while watching the tide. Letty shivered in the cool ocean air. "Cold?" She nodded and Brian took off his sweat shirt and gave it to her. It was a beautiful night neither of them could deny it. They got lost in their thoughts.

Brian had to tell Letty about the time clock. As it was 48 hours had already past since Stasiak had given him the clock. He had reassigned agents leaving only him and Sophie. She was busy trying to get prints off of the pill bottle Letty had given them. He didn't want to be the person to tell her that unless the car gods were smiling down on them the Braga job would be a bust.

Letty rubbed Runner's ear. She wanted all this to be over and have a normal life, but her life was never normal the day she decided she would be Dom's Letty. "You know it's funny how life has a way of changing your plans." She said breaking the silence.

Brian nodded in agreement. "I didn't plan on falling for Mia... for all of you really. And when I was left with the choice I did the one thing I never thought I could do."

"Let Dom go."

He nodded. "Yeah. I always wanted to be a cop, ever since I was a kid. Taking out the bad guys, like T.J. Hooker." Brian mused.

Letty arched her eyebrow. "T.J. Hooker?"

"Don't laugh. You know he was a bad ass. But when I meet you guys it was like that little boy didn't exist anymore. I didn't know who I was. So I ran. Did some time in Miami and got my life back."

"Now you're the bad ass T.J. Hooker?"

"Naw, now I kind of see my self as a Kojack."

This time Letty doubled over in laughter. Runner barked and wagged his tail. "Kojack? You will never be cool enough to be Kojack. Maybe Cagney or Lacey ." She teased.

Brian threw sand at her to shut her up. "So how has life changed your plans?"

She laid back and rested her head on her folded arms. "For one I never saw me having a kid. Never thought I would be sitting here with you of all people." She smirked as she looked at him, then she sat up on her elbows. "And I sure as hell didn't plan on being in love with a guy so much that I would be willing to go to the ends of the earth just to be with him."

"So have you thought about what if Dom doesn't come back?"

"Every night."

Brian and Letty just sat on the beach and talked about everything and nothing. Letty was beginning to see what Mia had saw in him. He was easy to be with no complications. They sat their until the beach patrol came around and told them to leave. Letty brushed off Runner before she let him in the car. Brian leaned against the front of the car with his arms folded. "Look, Let I need to tell you something about the case."

Letty closed the door. "What."

"We got a time clock. Thirty hours and their shutting us down."

"What! What do you mean shutting you down."

"We've been stalling out on this case for a while... two years and we always came up on the short end of the stick." He stuck his hands in his pockets.

"So, what all of this is been for nothing?"

Brian smiled. "No you still have thirty hours."

* * *

**A/N:**

Boggled down with school work (No one likes designing databases do they?), but wanted to update the story.

Hope I you guys got the cop references I know I'm dating myself but I'm a child of the 80's and watched a lot of old tv shows as a kid. **TJ Hooker** a veteran policeman with a strong hatred of the criminal element. He has declined numerous promotions because of a strong need to be out on the "streets" battling crime, and not wasting his skills and passion pushing pencils behind a desk"; **Kojack** was this awesomely dressed cop who would always have a lollipop in his mouth and popular catch-phrase, "Who Loves Ya, Baby?"; **Cagney and Lacey** were two female cops as partners. Their contrasting personalities (one is tough and the other sensitive) strengthen them as a team, allowing each a different perspective on both personal and professional situations.

Anywhoo... Thanks for reading and please review, I love to hear what you guys think good or bad.

xoxo

Tonya


	28. Chapter 28

Letty kicked off her boots and started the shower. She had about thirty hours to bring down a drug cartel or Dom would be lost to her forever. She grabbed something to sleep in and stared at Zan sleeping in her bed. He had took it hard when Dom left. She never really thought about how he would take it if Dom came back. Zan idolized Dom, he wanted to be just like him. When he was little he always wanted to dress like his father. Whenever she bought new clothes Letty always had to make sure that she get big boy and little boy clothes. The only time Zan would sit still was to watch Dom work on cars. Letty loved their relationship it was the most beautiful thing in the world to her. She pulled the covers over him tucking him.

_Letty put the grocery bags on the table. "Dom I'm back." She yelled stuffing things in the refrigerator._

"_Come here Mommie!" Zan's little voiced yelled out. Letty smiled she hadn't seen her boys all day. She put away the perishables and headed to the back of the house they were renting. They had spent the last nine months in a little town in Barbados. Zan had just celebrated his third birthday. It was another birthday with the three of them. She was missing her family. She longed for her Abuelita's touch and laughing with her primas. But this was her life now and no matter how much she missed her family in L.A. she wouldn't give up on what she had. She turned the corner and peered into the bathroom. Zan was singing some song he picked up. She had gripped the sides of the doorway. "Dom." She croaked out._

"_Lookie, I look like Daddy." Zan squealed out. He ran his hands over his newly shaved head. Dom smiled shyly as he wiped the remains of Zan's curly locks off his shoulders. Zan hopped off the sink counter and hugged Letty's waist then stood by Dom trying his best to look like him._

_Letty looked at her boys. Both Zan and Dom wore jean overalls that were hanging from the waist with white tee shirts. She shook her head. "What did you do to my son?"_

"Hi Mom."

"Hey Kiddo. You alright?"

"Yeah. Aunt Mia was crying." Letty sat on the bed and sighed. "Are you two fighting?"

"Something, like that. Nothing for you to worry about." She kissed him on the head. "Go back to sleep. Got school in the morning... I got to make sure I put a Sharpie in your bag."

"Why?"

"So Amber can sign your cast." Letty said laughing.

"Goodnight, Mom."

"Night Kiddo."

Letty put a pot of coffee on. For the life of her she couldn't understand how Mia and Leon drank the sludged every morning. She decided to get back in Mia's good graces and cook breakfast. She popped in a couple of Eggos and got the eggs out of the refrigerator.

Letty heard zombie Mia trudge down the stairs, the Torettos weren't morning people. Mia grumbled something resembling "Good Morning." She went straight to the coffee pot and poured the black gold in her mug. "God, Letty did you make this." Mia dumped it in the sink.

"Yeah."

Mia smiled and put another pot on. "You could never make a good pot of Joe." She watched the coffee maker percolate.

Letty sat a plate on the table. "Yeah, my kitchen skills are limited. Sit."

Mia arched her eyebrow. "Your way of apologizing?"

Letty put the butter and syrup on the table. "I need to understand my reasons for doing this."

"Letty..." Mia sighed.

"No, Mia I gotta get this out... I miss Dom and I want him to come home. And I can't just sit back and wait for his ass to come to his senses, not my style." A small smile crept across her face. "Even if it's to kick his ass."

Mia was laughing and crying at the same time. She jumped up and bear hugged Letty. "Love you."

"Love you too, girl." Letty kissed her on the forehead. "Now eat. I've slaved over the toaster to make you that breakfast."

Mia wiped her eyes and sat back down.

* * *

"Gisele, get my phone." Campos asked swinging his club. Gisele sauntered over handing him his phone. "Thank you. Oh and I won't need you for this afternoon."

Gisele looked puzzled. "I thought..."

Campos chuckled and dialed his phone. "I'm making other arraignments." He said with a sly smile.

Fenix who was sitting at a table eating looked up. "Other arraignments?" He said looking a Gisele.

"You don't call, write, not even a text. I mean we spend an amazing night together and I get nothing."

There was a soft husky laugh on the other end. "Look I'm meeting some clients today for lunch and I would love for you to accompany me." Campos laughed again. "Also dress to impress."

He hung up the phone and handed it back to Gisele.

"Real driver?" Fenix asked. He stood up and got in Campos face. "You don't know her for shit."

Calmly Campos place another white ball on the tee. "I plan to get to know her."

"I don't trust her."

Campos took a deep breath and got in Fenix's face. "All you need to worry about is that everything goes well with the shipment."

* * *

Letty snapped her phone shut. "Shit." She mumbled.

"You ok Mom?" Zan asked hobbling to the car.

"Yeah Kiddo." She helped Zan into the car. "Hold on I got to talk to your Aunt Mia." Letty ran back into the house.

"Mia!" She shouted.

Half dressed Mia ran down the steps. "What? Zan ok? Did he trip?"

Letty laughed. "Calm down Mia. I just wanted to ask you if you could pick up Zan from school and if you had a dress I could borrow." She said with her hands up.

Mia threw her shirt at Letty. "Jesus, Let you scared me." Letty caught it and threw it back. "Why do need me to pick him up?" She grabbed her shirt that fell on the step below her.

Letty thought about lying telling Mia that she had work or something to do with her Abuelita, but she wasn't going to lie to Mia again. "I'm working the case for Brian."

Mia's jaw tighten. "You don't have to do this Letty."

"I don't want to fight about it Mia. Can you or can't you pick up Zan. I'll get Doogie to do it..."

"Of course I can pick him up." Mia went back upstairs slamming the door behind her.

Letty sighed and put her hands in her pockets. She always hated fighting with Mia. It always made her feel like she was the one who pulled the trigger on Bambi's mother, public enemy number one.

_Dom snatched the magazine from Letty's hands. "What the fuck, Dom?"_

"_Apologize."_

_Letty snatched her magazine back. "No." She thumbed through the pages listlessly. "Why do I have to apologize?I didn't to anything wrong."_

_Dom sighed. "Letty, please. Just do it for me?" He looked at her with puppy dog eyes._

_Letty waived her finger. "Nut uh. That ain't gonna work Papi. I told you I didn't want to play Monopoly with Mia."_

"_You didn't have to play."_

_Letty just looked at him. "Then she would be pissed that I didn't play. There's no pleasing Princess Mia." Letty threw her magazine down and stormed out the room._

_Dom rubbed his head and flopped on the bed. He hated with his sister and girlfriend fought. He had to be bi partisan but it never worked out. He always ended up taking sides._

_Vince was in the refrigerator trying to pick out a late night snack. "Hey can you hand me a water?" Letty asked. _

_Vince looked up and returned back to the refrigerator. Finally he made his choice of meats and cheeses and closed the door. _

"_Thanks, buddy." Letty flung the door open and grabbed a bottled water._

"_You should apologize to Mia."_

"_You too?"_

_Vince busied himself with making his sandwich. "You shouldn't of yelled at her like that. You know how Mia gets when it comes to Monopoly." He carefully place the top slice of bread to finish his sandwich. He took a giant bite._

_Letty shook her head and left. She sat down on the couch next to Jesse who was playing video games. "You pissed at me too?"_

_Jesse laughed. "Why? Cause you cussed out Mia?"_

"_I didn't cuss her out."_

"_You threw the top hat at her."_

_Letty leaned back. "Nobody heard her accuse me of stealing money from the bank?"_

_Jesse stopped his game and looked at her. "But, you did." He said smiling._

_Letty pointed her water bottle at him. "Not the point. Mia too damn competitive."_

"_You're the one to talk." Jesse wrapped his arm around her. "Just say your sorry so things can get back to normal."_

_Letty let out a scream. "Fine. I'll fucking say I'm sorry."_

_Jesse kissed her on the cheek. "That's my girl."_

_Letty knocked softly on Mia's door. "Come to throw more Monopoly pieces at my head?" Mia snapped as she opened the door._

_Letty rolled her eyes. "Why do you have to be so damn dramatic?"_

"_Me dramatic? I'm not the one who threw a game piece at someone head. Then stormed out of the room like a petulant child."_

_Letty threw up her hands. "Fuck it." She pivoted to leave, but Mia caught her arm. Letty just looked at her. "Mia let me go." Letty threaten._

"_Or what? You gonna hit me?"_

_Letty looked shocked. "I wouldn't ever hit you Mia. No matter how much you deserve it."_

_Mia let go. "I know." She sat at her desk. "You know Monopoly makes me crazy."_

"_You can't help it. You're a Toretto and Torettos are competitive people."_

_Mia laughed. "Sorry, Let."_

"_Yeah, me too."_

Letty sipped on her warm tap water waiting for Brian. She had called him to meet her at the old Toretto garage now turned bar after she dropped off Zan. She looked around the bar and the early morning drinkers. It was barely eight and some people were already sloshed.

"Hey." Brian said slipping into the booth. "Starting early are we?" He asked pointing at her glass.

"Water."

"So what's up?"

"So, Campos called this morning. Wants me to joined him and some clients for lunch."

Brian leaned in. "Lunch?"

Letty shrugged. "Yeah. I even have to wear a dress."

Brian laughed. "You in a dress?"

Letty kicked him under the table. "I've worn dresses before O'Conner."

"Seriously, Letty. What do you think this is about?"

"I think he has a thing for me." She shrugged absently. "It gets me a chance to get close."

Brian shook his head. "I don't think its worth it anymore. They already assigned all the other agents to new assignments except for me and Sophie."

"It's worth a shot. And, when did you start playing by the books?"

He chuckled. "Just want you to be careful."

Letty checked her watch. "Always..." She smiled. "Walk me out."

The duo made it out to Letty's jeep. "Mia still pissed at me."

"Join the club." He smiled.

She opened the door and hung there. "It's gonna work out."

"How do you know?"

"I have faith."

Letty pulled up to the country club. She had on a strapless teal dress with some lace up shoes that Mia had picked out. Letty had to admit Mia did have taste. She handed the valet her keys to the roadrunner.

"You scratch it, I'll scratch you." She patted the boy on the chest and went to meet Campos.

"Hello can I help you?" A chipper blond asked.

Letty put on a fake smile. "Yes I'm meeting a friend. Ramon Campos."

The girl checked her list. "Oh yes. Mr. Campos is already here. I'll take you to his table." Letty followed the girl to the table. Campos and three other men were sitting at the the table. They all got up when Letty approached. Campos smiled.

"Leticia you look lovely." He pulled out the chair for her.

Letty smiled. "Thank you Ramon."

The men all sat down once Letty did. "Gentlemen this is a dear friend of mine, Leticia. She is the car expert that I was talking to you about."

One of the men looked down out of his glasses. "Really? A lovely girl like you?"

Letty smirked. She never understood why men just assumed because she had a pretty face she had an I.Q. of a gofer. But, she put on a fake smile. "Yes, I grew up around cars. My father was an army mechanic. He taught me everything I know about cars. I worked at my neighbor's garage since I was about thirteen. Me and a friend upgrade my Plymouth Roadrunner. So yes, I considered myself a car expert."

The man smiled. "Just because your Daddy taught you how to change a tire and did a couple of oil changes doesn't make you a expert my dear."

Letty looked at Campos. He just shook his head. "You're right. It doesn't." She stood up to leave but Campos grabbed her hand. "Wait." He turned his attention to his associate. "Fredrick, why don't we go outside and take a look at Leticia's car. It's quite a specimen. Of course after we eat."

The men laughed and Letty sat back down. Campos still holding her hand.

Campos leaned against the Roadrunner with a huge grin on his face. "You really impressed them and they aren't easily impressed. Good job."

Letty smiled. "I aim to please." She stood in front of him. "So, do you make all your drivers dress up and take them to fancy lunches."

"No just the beautiful ones."

"So what did Fenix wear on his fancy lunch?"

Campos laughed. "You are bad." He leaned in a kissed her gently on the cheek. "Now take me for a ride."

* * *

AN: Sigh ...last day of my staycation, thought update the story. Thanks for reading and reviewing as always you guys rock!

Tonya


	29. Chapter 29

Letty drove south as Campos instructed she could tell by the city names that they were nearing the Mexican boarder. The day had been interesting with Campos. His associates ended being Middle European business men who had too much money. They were in the country for a couple of days and interested in buying some American cars. Campos knew that Letty had a love for American muscle and she would steer them in the right direction.

"So you gonna tell me where we're headed?"

"Nope. Take the next exit then make a left." He replied wryly.

Letty rolled her eyes and kept on driving. She wondered what she was driving herself into. Finally he had made his last demand on her and she pulled into a rust red Mexican style home. Outside of the house there was several blue balloons. One read "Happy Christening" in Spanish. Campos unbuckled his seatbelt and Letty arched her eyebrow. "What is this?"

He didn't answer just getting out the car and walked over to the driver's side door. He opened the door for her extending his hand for her to take. "Scared?"

Letty smiled and took his hand. "No..."

"My cousin just had his first baby. A little boy named him Luis Alexander..."

Letty froze. Alexander. Her first born, heart and soul. It was nearing five o'clock and she hadn't seen or spoken to him since she dropped him off at school earlier that morning. She found herself missing him.

"You ok?" Campos asked as he rang the doorbell.

"Yeah."

An elderly woman with long silver hair swooped around in a loose side pony tail opened the door. "Ramon, Ha sido demasiado largo." She said taking him in her small arms. She released him and kissed him on the forehead. She smiled warmly at Letty. "Y quién es esta criatura encantadora. Novia?"

Campos laughed. "No, Tia Maria."

"Él desea. Leticia." Letty told her. The woman chuckled softly and hugged her just as she did Campos.

"Venido adentro. Cada uno está en la parte posterior."

Letty followed the old women in the house. It was decorated somewhat like her Abuelita's home with the picture of the Virgin Mary and a crucifix at every turn. A smile came across Letty's face.

"What?"

"Nothing." Letty replied as she walked by the St. Christopher.

When they reached the back there was a small crowd gathered and soft Latin beats played in the background.

"Let me look at this beautiful boy." Campos walked over to the center of the crowd.

"Ay look Luis your god father finally decided to show up." A beautiful young woman said.

"Sorry Sara I had business." Campos kissed her on the cheek and picked up the chubby baby boy and instantly he started to cry.

"You're holding him wrong." Letty repositioned the baby in Campos arms. "They liked to be close to your heart."

Campos arched his eyebrow.

Letty blushed. "Cousins." All her mothering skills she had learned from the brief time she spent with the mid wife. A week after she had Zan they were back on the move. The rest Letty had to learn on her own.

Campos introduced her to everyone as his "friend" which Letty thought to be funny. You don't bring "friends" to your Godson's christening party. But she let it slide because she needed to get close to him to get to Braga. She was pleasant to everyone making small talk lining truth with lies. It came almost to easy for her. She wondered if it was like this for Brian. She had made her way back into the house to use the restroom. On her way back to the party a picture caught her eye. It was the same one Campos had at his house of an old Spanish church.

"Iglesia del Santo Cristóbal." Tia Maria told her. "It was built in 1848. My great grandmother, grandmother, and I were married there."

"It's a beautiful church."

She pulled out a photo album from a small desk under the picture. She flipped through it and showed Letty the picture of her wedding day. "This is my Fernando. He was such a beautiful man. So kind, so loving. We were married for sixty five years. He had a stroke last month."

A great sorrow came over Letty. To share a life with someone for sixty five years and have them leave. Dom had been a part of her life since she was thirteen and now at twenty nine being away from him these past months was gut wrenching. She couldn't imagine how Maria felt. "I'm sorry."

Maria patted the picture lovely. "Don't be amor I shared sixty plus years with Fernando. We had children, grand children to love him was enough."

_Letty straddled Dom as she shaved his head. She was beginning to show and her belly was was almost poking him in the face. He smiled at the little life that was growing inside of her. The little life that he created, someone that was completely dependent on him. Not like the team depend on him and that scared him. He had let the team down and it had cost him his brothers. Jesse's was dead, Leon up and left and, Vince he had no idea what happened to his best friend since the third grade. He couldn't protect the grown people in his house, how was he going to protect a helpless baby. His chest felt tight, and he couldn't breath. Letty stopped shaving and looked down at him. "Dom?"_

_He pulled her closed and kissed her belly. "Dom, you ok?"_

"_What if I fuck up the kid?"_

_Letty put down the razor and pulled his face up. "You won't."_

"_I fucked up the team."_

"_We fucked ourselves up."_

_Dom lifted Letty's shirt. She was getting stretched marks. "I could of lost you. Could of lost the baby." He looked her in the eyes with regret. "I thought about asking you to marry me, before all this."_

_Letty looked at him. "Dom..."_

_He put his hand up. "I know how you feel about marriage. It would have been different for us. You're not your mother."_

_Letty repositioned herself on his lap. "Dom..."_

_He laughed slightly. "I guess it doesn't really matter anyway does it?"_

"_You have me Dom. For a while now. I don't need a piece of paper to declare my devotion to you."_

"_But I want it. I want that paper telling the world that I'm yours and your mine. I want you to have my last name. I want my child to have my last name... It just not how I had planned things out for us Let.."_

_Letty took his face in her hands forcing him to look at her. "Life has a way of changing one's plan, Dom. You just go where it takes you."_

"Leticia, child?" Maria called. "You lost someone you love?"

Letty smirked. "More like he left."

The old woman nodded and took Letty hand and patted it. "What is that saying... it's better to love and lost than to never loved at all?"

Letty huffed "Something like that."

Campos came behind them kissing the old woman on the cheek. "We have to get going."

"Already? You just got here."

"I got to get Letty back before she turns back into a pumpkin." He teased.

Maria sighed. "Fine. Let me fix you two kids a plate before you leave." The woman shuffled back to the kitchen.

Letty was fixated on the church. There was something mesmerizing about that old building. "Do you know if it's still there?"

Campos nodded his head. "They still hold mass there every Sunday. When I want to get away get some quiet I like to visit."

Letty smiled and gently touched the picture."Su familia es hermosa."

He nodded gracelessly. "Gracias."

Maria came back with two large brown bags with food. "I hope this is enough."

"Tia, that's more than enough." Campos said and took the bags off her hand.

The woman waved him off. "I worry about you Ramon. I don't know if you're eating enough. Are you having regular bowel movements?"

Campos blushed. "Tia."

Letty laughed. "My Abuelita the same way. If she had her way I would be married with five kids and weighing 200 pounds."

"Your Abuelita sounds like a lovely women. You're too pretty of a girl not to be married. Ramon you be good to this one." She kissed Letty on the cheek.

The drive back was quiet. Campos snacked on some of the foods that Maria had packed. Letty enjoyed the drive. She always loved driving at night. The stars whipping by her as she drove. The moon always seemed like it was getting closer but never in reach, so she kept driving to try and reach it. The silence was cut by the ringing of Campos' phone.

"Campos... Everything ready?... I'll be back in the city in an hour." He hung up the phone. "Can you drive me to the night club?"

"What about your car? It's still at the country club."

He shrugged. "I get someone to pick it up or buy a new one."

"Right. I forgot you're Braga's right hand man."

He turned to look at her. "I wouldn't say right hand man, but he trusts me."

"Have you ever meet him? What's he like?"

"Like any other man."

"So a dick head then?"

Campos laughed.

An hour or so later Letty pulled into Campos compound. "Thank you for accompanying me today."

"No problem."

Campos crawled out the door. Letty jumped out to catch him. "You forgot your leftovers. Don't want you wasting away." She handed him the brown bags stuffed with food.

He took them and smiled. "Mind if I come in for a while?" He looked at her funny. "Five hours in a car. I have to pee."

She followed him to the club the music was bumping and Letty had the urged to dance. But she had to kept in mind that she was here to do business not shake her booty. She still hadn't had that girls night out with lead her to the office part of the club. "Second door on the right." He pointed down the hall. Letty nodded. She also noticed the older looking man in the room clearing waiting on Campos. It was the man she had bumped into earlier. The Spanish Colonel Sanders who gave her the aspirin.

"Something I can help you with, Real Driver?" Fenix asked coming behind her.

Letty slowing turned around. "No, why don't you go find a fire hydrogen to pee on." She walked by him pushing past him to the bathroom.

Fenix just glared.

Letty sat on the toilet and pulled out her phone. She needed to hear Zan's voice.

"Hey, Kiddo."

"Where are you, Mom?" He said sleepily.

Letty looked at her watch it was pretty late. "In a bathroom stall."

Zan laughed. "Really? Why?"

"Thought you were potty trained, boy."

"Mom." He said exacerbated. "When you coming home."

"Soon."

"Mmm K." Zan yawned. "Love you."

"Love you too, Kiddo."

She flushed and hung up her phone. Letty was surprised to see Gisele at the mirror, but she didn't show it. "How you living girl?" Letty asked washing her hands.

"Good. Had a bit of a hangover the other day."

Letty laughed and head for the door.

"Letty." Gisele called out.

"Yeah."

The other woman walked up to her. "Campos is a dangerous man." Gisele warned.

Letty smiled. "I've dealt with men like Campos before."

Gisele grabbed her arm. Letty looked her up and down. "Seriously, you need to be careful with dealing with him." Gisele warned again.

Letty nodded and walked out the door. She didn't like the look on Gisele's face. The look of a woman scared. She went back up the hallway. Campos guard dog was gone. She poked her head in the room. Campos was still there with Colonel Sanders. "Ramon I'm leaving."

He looked up from his drink. "Ok." Then he returned to his conversation with the Colonel.

When Letty reached the front the club was in full swing. Fenix was at the bar talking up some girl. She wasn't a fan of him since day one. He reminded her a lot of Johnny Tran, cocky, arrogant, and an asshole. He needed to get his bubble popped. She sauntered over to them. "You might want to be careful."

The girl looked at her confused. "Excuse me?" she asked.

"He hasn't had all his shots." She told the girl with a smile.

Fenix was seething. "What did you say?"

Letty patted him on the chest. "Down boy." She couldn't help but goad him, he needed to be put in his place.

He grabbed her arm forcefully. "You want to be careful who you talk to like that, Real Driver." He said glaring in her eyes. Letty was unfazed.

"Fenix." Gisele called.

He let go of Letty's arm. She smirked. "Good boy." She had to get one last one before she left.

* * *

Gisele was sitting in her office going over some last minute details before the shipment when Fenix came storming in.

"Gimme the list of drivers." Fenix ordered Gisele.

She looked at him sideways. "Why?"

"Just give me the list."

She handed him the list. He thumbed through it for a moment and pulled out his phone. "Miles, this is Fenix. We won't be needing you for the night."

"What are you doing?" Gisele asked.

"Putting that puta in her place."

* * *

**Translations**

Ha sido demasiado largo- It has been too long

Y quién es esta criatura encantadora. Novia – and who is this lovely creature, girlfriend

Venido adentro. Cada uno está en la parte posterior. - come in everyone is in the back.

Su familia es hermosa- Your family is beautiful

puta-whore; slut

* * *

After digging my car out the snow, VDOT comes and seals me back in my driveway! Ugh I hate snow! Since I'm stuck at home he's an update hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading and review.

Oh I'm not to familiar with my saints, St. Christoper was the only one I could think of.

Tonya


	30. Chapter 30

Letty was ready for this night to be over all she wanted to do was take a long hot shower and sleep for the next two days. But she knew that she wouldn't be sleeping anytime soon. Her clock was up four hours ago but she was still determined to see the Braga thing through. She knew if she could nail Braga the FBI wouldn't turn a blind eye to that and maybe everything wouldn't be for not. She pulled into Harry's garage and was greeted by a very tired and angry looking Brian. Letty barely had the Roadrunner in park when Brian swung her door open. "Where were you?" He said in a very Dom like tone.

Letty laughed to herself and got out the car. "Good to see you to O'Conner. I had a lunch date with Campos remember? Then he took me to see his family."

Now Brian was seething. "What the hell Letty? You sleeping with him?"

Letty was a little taken back and was growing upset. "Watch how you talk to me O'Conner. You're forgetting that I'm not like you. I know where to draw the line." Letty knew that was a low blow but she was pissed. Brian sounded more like a jealous boyfriend than a cop.

"Do what you want, Letty. I'm done with this. The clock is over and if you still going through with this then you're going at it alone." He practically yelled at her. He stalked over to his car but Letty stopped him.

"So that's it? You're just going to hop in your car and drive away? You owe us this."

Brian shook his finger. "I don't owe you anything. I was just doing my job."

"Bullshit. You were doing more than your job." She snapped back.

He was getting frustrated there was no talking to Letty. She was in the zone. "Letty..." Brian did the only thing he knew to do he grabbed the back of her hand and brought her into a kiss. It was brief but passionate.

Letty jumped back. "What the fuck?" She heaved.

"I needed to get you attention."

Letty paced the garaged running her fingers through her hair. She was confused and pissed. She stopped and looked at Brian probably for the first time since she meet him. He was a lot like Dom in many ways, just as fast and furious. The only difference between Dom and Brian was that Dom lived by this ridiculous code.

"_Me and my Dad built her. Nine hundred horse power of Detroit muscle. It's a beast. Know what she ran in Palmdale?" Letty heard Dom tell Brian. She leaned against the garage door and listen. She knew that it was wrong to eavesdrop but she loved it when Dom talked about the Charger and Frankie. He didn't do it enough._

"_No. What did she run?" Brian asked._

_Letty smiled. She remembered that race. Frankie had ran the beast in nine seconds flat. It was one of the most amazing things she had ever seen. She had gripped Dom's arm so tight she left fingernail imprints on him._

"_...my Dad was driving. So much torque, the chassis twisted coming off the line. Barely kept her on the track." Dom mused._

"_So, what's your best time?"_

"_I've never driven her."_

_Letty laid her head back on the wall. She remembered when Dom got back from Lompoc he just stared at the Charger forever. Like if he looked away he would catch on fire. He barely touched after that, he would wipe it down every once and while but never drove it. Dom felt he wasn't worthy of driving the Charger he let his anger get the best of him, lost his cool. Frankie was the opposite always calm and collected never losing his temper with anyone. _

"_It scares the shit out of me. That's my Dad." Letty knew he was pointing at the picture of Frankie when he won the Lancaster 200. "He was comin' up in the pro stock car circuit. Last race of the season. And, a guy named Kenny Linder came up from inside, in the final turn. He clipped his bumper and put him into the wall at 120. I watched my Dad burn to death. I remembered hearing him scream. But the people that were there said that he had died before the tanks blew. They said it was me who was screaming." Letty closed her eyes and fought back the urge to cry. She knew what came next in this story. The day Linder came into the shop. All he wanted to do was apologize. But instead he he almost lost his life. "I saw Linder about a couple weeks later. I had a wrench and I hit him. And I didn't intend to keep hitting him, but by the time I was done, I couldn't lift my arm. He's a janitor at a high school. Has to take the bus to work everyday. And they banned me from the tracks for life. I live my life a quarter mile at a time. Nothing else matters. Not the mortgage, not the store, not my team and all their bullshit. For those ten seconds or less, I'm free."_

_Letty snorted at the last part. Dom had more bullshit than anyone. But she understood what he meant by it. She had the same sentiments when it came to racing. She heard Dom and Brian shuffling out of the garage and made herself look like she wasn't eavesdropping. _

"_Hey you two." She said smiling._

_Dom looked at her and he knew she was listening. Letty was always noisy as shit. "Hey, Letty."_

"_Mia sent me out her to get you two. Lunch is ready." Dom took her by the waist and pulled her to him._

"_You know it's not polite to eavesdrop?" He whispered in her ear._

"_When have I ever been polite?" She quipped back. "C'mon Wonder Bread, this is your lucky day. My Abuelita brought over a tray of her empanadas and homemade salsa." She broke free of Dom's grasp and locked arms with Brian. "Better hurry, before Vince gets a whiff."_

_She looked back at Dom who was shaking his head._

Brian sighed deeply he had no idea what he was getting into when he decided to help Letty. She was a force of nature that he couldn't predict. And he definitely couldn't predict his budding feelings towards her. "Letty." He said to calm her down. Her face was flustered from anger. He stared deeply in her brown eyes. "I told you the reason I let Dom go because he lived by a code. And I respected him more at that moment than myself... " He tucked a stray hair behind her ear. "Well Dom broke that code when he walked out on you and your son."

Letty stepped away not meeting Brian's eyes. "I gotta make this right, Brian."

"No Dom needs to..." He was about to protest more when he was cut off by Letty's buzzing cell phone. He huffed and stepped away.

"Letty...Now?...He didn't say anything to me...Ok I'll be there in an hour."

Brian looked concerned as Letty flipped her phone shut. "What is it?"

"That was Fenix. They're doing the drop tonight." She headed towards the employee locker room to change. She always kept a set of spare clothes in her locker. Brian was right on her heels.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

Letty without shame threw off her dress. "Changing." She grabbed a white tank and pulled it over her head.

Brian got in her face. "You can't do this, Letty."

She ignored him and finished getting dressed. "Brian, this is what we've been working on all these months. To get inside of Braga's organization..."

"It's too dangerous for you to do this alone. You need to be wired. Someone to watch your back."

She gave his a devilish grin. "Thought that's what you're for. To watch my back."

He ran his fingers through his hair. "There's no talking you out of this is there."

"Nope, sorry O'Conner."

Brian sighed. "Fine, but take this." He pulled out his phone. "It's my work phone. It has GPS tracker on it so I'll be able to find you where ever you are. Sophie's number is number two on speed dial." He put the phone in her hand. "The first sign of trouble you call ok." He looked her in the eyes. "I mean it, Letty."

She nodded and headed back to the garage. She pulled her jacket out of the jeep and put it on, took a deep breath and climbed back into the Roadrunner. "It's all good, O'Conner. You'll see." She said more for herself than Brian.

* * *

Mia finished helping Zan do his homework when she looked at the clock it was nearing six thirty and there had been no sign of Letty, she didn't even bother to call home. Mia was beginning to worry she had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach that something was going to go wrong. She had that same feeling at Race Wars.

"_And now I am asking you not to go." Mia begged as she followed Dom to the cars. She had a bad feeling all day about the heist. When Johnny Tran showed up and Jesse took off her feeling got worst. Dom stopped and took her by the shoulders. He looked her in the eyes. "Mia, I am doing this for both of us."_

_She rolled her eyes. She didn't by the bull he was shoveling. "No, don't give me that crap. You're doing this for you. Why are you insisting on doing this? Dom, please. Just don't." There were tears in her eyes. What she wanted Dom to do was look for Jesse. He was just a kid, scared and alone. Dom kissed her on the cheek. "It'll be fine. This is the last one. I promise."_

_She folded her arms and huffed. "I mean it Mia." He said softly. "Go back in the trailer and wait in case Jesse comes back." He ordered her. _

_She looked to Letty and the boys for help but they just shook her heads. She stormed off if they were going to get themselves killed then she wasn't going to standby and watch. She felt someone grab her arm. She was about to tell who ever it was to fuck off, but she saw it was Brian and she soften up a bit._

"_Mia, what's going on?" He asked._

"_What?"_

"_You know what I'm talking about."_

_She shook her head and continued to walk. She need to get back to the trailer. Jesse might call. "No, I don't, Brian." _

"_Oh, so what? You always have tears in your eye's when Dom drives away?" He asked. She stopped walking and looked at him. There was something off with him._

"_What is the matter with you?"_

"_Come on. What's your brother racing off in the middle of the night for? I'm talking about the trucks, you know about the trucks?"_

_Mia crossed her arms. She had a lot to deal with and didn't want to deal with Brian and his twenty one questions. "No, Brian! What trucks? Jesus Christ. What?"_

"_Listen to me. Mia, I'm a cop."_

_She was confused and thought she didn't hear him correctly. " What are you talking about, Brian? What is this?"_

_Brian sighed. "Ever since the first time I met you, I've been undercover. I'm a cop."_

_Right then her world froze, Vince was right all along. She couldn't form words she was so upset. "Oh, you bastard. You bastard." Was all she could croak out. Her bad feeling that she had all day was really the handsome blond that stood in front of her._

"Aunt Mia what's for dinner?" Zan asked. He started to pack up his book bag.

Mia shrugged. "How bout we make sandwiches?"

Zan smiled. "Cool." He stopped packing and looked up at Mia. "Is Mom working late tonight? I wanted to show her my book report."

Mia breathed in. "I don't know sweetie. But why don't you finish packing up and we can start making sandwiches." She was getting that feeling like before in the pit of her stomach that something was going to go horribly wrong. She had begged Dom not to go. That he should find Jesse first, but he was too stubborned to listen. Now Letty was doing the same thing Dom had done. Shut her out, not listen to reason, she only hoped that the result wouldn't be the same.

Mia and Zan started to pull out the bread and the fixings for dinner. "What kind of sandwich you gonna make?" Zan asked hobbling over to the kitchen counter with mustard and cheese in hand.

"Don't know. I thought turkey, ham, and cheese."

"I'm gonna make roast beef and turkey. And I'm gonna make a sandwich for Mom."

Mia smiled. "Peanut butter and banana?"

The boy made a face. "It's gross, but she swears it's the best."

"God, sometimes that all she would eat peanut butter and banana sandwiches and Captain Crunch. Your Mom had the worst eating habits."

"Really?"  
"Yeah."

"Then how come she makes me eat broccoli?"

Mia ruffled his hair. "Cause she's your Mom and that's what they're supposed to do."

They both laughed when the doorbell rang. Mia went to answer it and Austin stood at the door with his backpack.

"Hey Mia." His face was bruised and a torn shirt.

Mia dragged the teen inside the house. "My god, Austin what happened?"

Austin wiped his bloody nose. "My Dad and me got in a fight when I told him I was leaving." He looked down at his feet.

She lead him to the couch and looked him over. "Doesn't look too bad. I'll go get the first aid kit."

He nodded and laid back. Runner came and laid his head on his lap. Austin rubbed his ear.

"You like roast beef and turkey?" Zan asked trying to balance a plate and his crutches. "You can have this one."

Austin smiled. "Thanks man." He took the sandwich and took a huge bite. "This isn't bad." He said with a mouth full. Zan smiled and returned to the kitchen. "Hey when you get back, be prepared to get whooped in Madden."

"Yeah right!" Zan shouted from the kitchen.

Mia returned shortly with the first aid kit. She begun to patch up Austin. "I'll get Letty to make you a spare key tomorrow. We can start cleaning out the basement, so you'll have a place to sleep."

"Thanks."

"No problem." Mia told him. She missed doing this for the boys and Letty at times. Taking care of them. It was never a burden, they were her family the whole herd of them.

"Mia?"

She sniffled. "Yeah?" She wiped the tears she didn't realize she was crying from her face.

"That stings." He pointed at the iodine in her hands.

They both smiled. "Sorry."

The rest of the evening was spent eating sandwiches and playing video games. Mia even got in the on the action. She failed horribly at everything she attempted to play.

"Aunt Mia you suck." Zan laughed throwing his controller down.

She playfully pushed him. "Thanks. And just for that, bedtime."

"Awe, man." Zan whined. "Can I stay up and wait for Mom?"

She shook her head. "Nope. Teeth then bed." She pointed at the steps.

The boy huffed. "Night Aunt Mia. Night Austin." He said as he made his trek up the stairs.

Mia and Austin straighten up the living room and kitchen. "Austin can you take the trash out and Runner?"

He grabbed the bags. "Sure." He patted the side of his leg. Runner jumped off his lazy boy and followed him out.

Austin stuffed the trash bags in the bin. He heard a noise and Runner started to growl. "You ok boy?" The hair on the dog's back raised up. "Hello? Whose out there?" He said in his most intimidating voice. He crept up to Runner and grabbed his collar. "Come on boy." He tugged the reluctant dog back into the house.

Dom came from around the corner of the garage. He watched as the kid went back into the house. He rubbed his head and enter the garage. The first thing that meet his eyes was the Charger. He noticed the modifications to the car. "Letty." Escaped his lips. He got into the driver side of the car and noticed his chain hanging from the rear view mirror.

* * *

Letty pulled up with the other racers. She noticed that Gisele was collecting cell phones and they were sweeping for bugs. She quickly turned off the phone Brian had given her and hid it in the secret glove department box. When Gisele reached her she had a surprise look on her face. "What are you doing here?" she asked Letty.

"Fenix phone."

Gisele turned back to look at Fenix who was chewing a toothpick leaning against his car. He gave her a small smile. "I see... I need your cell, please."

Letty handed her other cell. "You alright girl?"

"I'm fine."

Letty watched Gisele as she got the phones from the other drivers. When she was done she got all of there attention. "I need all of your GPS units so they can be synced up. Also you need to stay on the same frequency and listen to my instructions to the tee no steering from course."

Everyone filed out and handed them their units. She program all of them and handed them back. "I need all of you to pull in the trailer."

"What is this?" One of the drivers asked. "I thought we were doing the driving."

Fenix pushed off his car. "We're not paying you to ask questions. Get in the trailer or get lost."

Letty huffed and patted the guy on the back. "C'mon lets get paid." She said with a smile. The guy nodded and got back in his car.

Gisele had ordered some men to pack up there cars with product. Letty figured it was heroin or cocaine they were shipping. She knew that the trailer was only going to take them half way. Their journey had only begun. They all pulled into the dark trailer. The other drivers got out of their cars trying to figure out what was going on. Letty remained in the Roadrunner all she could think about was her son and Dom.

* * *

"I'm going to put this box outside." Mia told Austin. They were clearing out the basement to make a room for the teen.

"You packed away a lot of stuff here." He noted stuffing more junk into a box.

"Well the whole team lived here. It was six of us at one time." She smiled thinking about the better times with the team, with her family. There was a time when she couldn't got two inches in the house without stepping on a bolt or tripping on a work boot. She missed the crazy mess that was her family.

Runner was sitting at attention at the back down wagging his tail. "Gotta go out?" Mia asked the dog. He just stood up scratching at the back door. When she opened it he bolted to the garage. Mia followed him there.

Dom sat staring at his cross lost in thought. He was finally home and he had no idea how he was going to face his family. Letty and Zan had been his life for the past eight years. This time apart was the longest he had been away from them. Being away from them was just as bad as being locked up in Lompac.

Mia opened the door and dropped the box on the ground. "Dom?" She croaked out.

He looked up and a huge smile came across his face. "Mia." He jumped out his car and hugged his little sister. "I've missed you."

Mia was crying and hugged him tighter. Dom pulled her away and wiped the tears from her face. "Look at you." He said smiling.

She blushed and hugged him again. "I can't believe you're here." Her embraced got tighter.

Dom laughed. "Miss me much."

"You have no idea." She let go of him to get a better look. "You lost weight."

He nodded and turned to the Charger. "Letty?"

Mia walked over to the car and traced her finger alongside the driver side mirror. "Letty wouldn't let them junk it. Even though it is a goddamn curse. Since she got back all she does is work on it day and night. She wanted it to be ready when you got back." Mia leaned against the car and sighed. "Dom she's into something, deep. She won't listen to me..."

"What is it?"

"She's been working with Brian."

"What?!" He yelled. "What's she doing with the cop, Mia?" He said getting in her face.

"She's working undercover, Dom. Trying to bring down some guy named Braga."

Dom paced the garage. He threw a wretched across the room. Mia jumped. "She's doing it for you Dom. She brings this guy down, you get to come home. You left her no choice."

"I left to protect her. To protect my son. Letty..."  
"Letty is just as stubborned and bullheaded as you! What is it that you two use to say to each other Dom? Ride or die?"

* * *

"Brian sit down." Sophie said staring at the fax machine.

"She shouldn't of turned off the phone."

"She probably had a reason." She tapped the machine willing something to come out of it. Stasiak

had allowed Brian and Sophie to stay on the case for another twelve hours after hearing that Letty was going to make the run. But minutes seemed like hours and hours like days. Brian had them put a trace on his phone but Letty had turned it off so he had no idea what her location was and this worried him. He couldn't help if he didn't know where she was.

Sophie had been able to pull several prints off of the pill bottle that Letty got from Campos. She was running the print through various agencies to see if there was a match. "Brian stop pacing you're making me dizzy."

"Sorry."

"O'Conner! I got something." Stasiak shouted from the war room. "I got her location she's just outside of the Mexican boarder."

Brian grabbed his coat. "Soph gimme your phone." Sophie gave him a quizzical look. "I just can't sit around here and wait. I'm going after her."

"O'Conner!" Stasiak called again. Brian turned around. "Don't forget what side your on."

He nodded and made his way towards the elevator.

* * *

A little holiday update hope everyone's holiday is full of food, family, friends, cheer and a dash of Dotty! Happy Holidays hope everyone has a great one!

Peace & Love

Tonya


	31. Chapter 31

Letty remained in her car until the trailer stopped. She was putting her game face on. When the trailer came to a halt they all pulled their cars out of the trailer and waited for instructions.

"Welcome to Mexico boys and girl." Gisele voice came over their two way. "There are helicopters and surveillance cameras that scan for heat signatures at the border. But there are blind spots that I can guide you through via satellite. There can be no margin of error, so you must follow my every direction. Any questions?"

No one responded. Letty gripped the steering wheel tighter. She had the feeling that she was in over her head. "Now or never, Leticia." She said to pump herself up.

"All right everybody sync up. Good luck."

Fenix drove off with Letty and the other drivers following behind. They drove through the dessert for a while with no problem. Letty thought it was too easy. They had some of LA best drivers making the drop and there was no way in hell that would need people of her skill to drive in a straight line.

"Shit..." Gisele voice cut the silence. "You guys have been tagged. They're sending a helicopter. You have 30 seconds..."

Fenix speed up and Letty did accordingly. They were slowing approaching what looked like to Letty a mountain side.

"The window is closing fast. You need to get out of there before they send ground support. 15 seconds..." Gisele warned.

Letty noticed that Fenix was making no attempt to slow down in fact he was barreling towards the mountain side. "You're running out of time. You need to get out now." Just after Gisele last words were spoken Fenix had hit the mountain side and a passage way was revealed. They were driving through the mountain side.

Letty's heart dropped. "Oh shit."

* * *

Brian drove furiously towards Letty's coordinates. "Air support where is she?"

"Hold on Agent O'Conner. The target is heading towards Legardo Ravine. North 32' 33', west 116, 49."

Brian pushed the gas peddle faster. "Thanks, keep a lock on that phone."

* * *

"How's my son?" Dom folded his arms and leaned against the Charger.

"His beautiful." Mia smiled. "I just wished I didn't have to find out about my nephew when Letty showed up on my doorstep. He didn't even know I existed until then."

Dom licked his lips and sighed deeply. "I thought it would be safer if he didn't about things in LA."

This time Mia got in Dom's face with her hands on her hips."And what about Letty? You could of told me that she was with you. That she was safe. You don't know how much I worried about her."

"Mia I didn't want to implement Letty in case the phones were being bugged. I figured that Brian and his friends would be all over the phone lines."

"You hurt me Dom by keeping all this from me. I've been so lonely these past years. No family, nothing."

Dom kissed Mia on the forehead. "I'm sorry. I never wanted you to get involved in this. You were meant for better things."

Mia huffed. "Better things? What's better than my family? See you never got that. You had these big dreams for me Dom, but all I needed I already had."

"Mia I had to push you. If I didn't you wouldn't be where you are now... You finished school, you have a career, a life that's all I ever wanted for you."

Mia shook her head. "I don't have a life, Dom. Working 40 hours a week just to come home to an empty house and a frozen dinner. It wasn't until Letty and Zan came that I began feeling whole again. To feel like my old self. You always thought you knew what was best for me..." She grabbed his hand and gently stroked his knuckles. She sighed and looked at her brother. "I don't want to fight anymore... Zan's asleep if you want to see him."

Dom smiled at that. He missed his baby boy. The first few days of his son's life all he would do was watch him sleep, make sure that he was breathing. Letty always told him that he was being over protective, but after everything that went down he felt he had to do more. That was one of the reasons why he didn't tell Mia about Letty and Zan. He wanted them all to himself.

* * *

Letty was working on straight adrenaline as she followed Fenix through the mine shaft. She had done some crazy driving in her life but nothing was like this.

_Dom got out the car and slammed the door to the civic. They had just pulled off their second heist. Everything went smoothly except for Letty's little stunt. "What the fuck was that, Letty." Dom yelled storming over to her. _

_She nonchalantly got out her car. "I had no other choice, man." She said slamming her car door. _

_Dom got in her face. "No other choice? You should of backed off."_

"_Don't give me that shit Dom. Maybe if you would of done your job a little better..."_

_Unaware of their fight Jesse ran up to Letty and wrapped his arm around her neck. "That was some bad ass shit huh Dom? The way she slid under the trailer. I mean shit!" Jesse's face dropped when he saw Dom's face._

_Dom looked at him. "Go to your car Jesse." He grabbed Letty's arm and dragged her over to his car. He pushed her in the passenger side. Vince came over to him. "Yo man chill. She's alright, we got the load that all that matters." Vince ducked in the car. "You alright?" He asked softly.  
_

_Dom pushed him back. "Back off Vince."_

"_Then watch how you deal with Letty." Vince stood toe to toe with Dom. Leon and Jesse were now both standing behind him._

_Letty got out the car and stood between Vince and Dom. "Chill, alright." She turned to Vince and pushed him back to his car gently. "I'm cool, V."_

_He looked down at her then back at the seething Dom. "You sure? Cause." He cracked his neck._

_Letty laughed. "I got it Baby Bear. Meet you at the fort."_

_Vince nodded and kissed her on the forehead. He grabbed Jesse by the neck. "C'mon on man."_

_When Letty turned around she found Dom walking towards the desert. She jog slightly to catch up with him. "You planning to walk home, cause that's the wrong way." She shouted out to him._

_Dom pivoted and stopped. He just looked at her for a moment and walked over to her. "You drive me crazy sometimes you know that?" _

_She grabbed him by the waist pulling him close. "Well you ain't so sweet yourself." They rested their foreheads together._

"_You scared me back there." Dom said quietly. He hugged her tighter. _

_She smiled slightly. "Scared myself." _

She barely missed a support beam. She figured this is why they wanted street racers only people addicted to adrenaline would do something as crazy as this. She had to shift gears in order to kept up with Fenix. She checked her rear view and the other drivers were keeping up. Finally there was a light at the end of the tunnel. Fenix lead the way out. He got out his car and greeted some other men driving Hummers.

The other drivers got out once they reached the end of the tunnel and went over to Fenix. Letty lagged behind them, she was getting a bad feeling about this. The mine shaft was tricky to drive but nothing she or the other drivers couldn't handle. It was almost to easy for the money Braga was paying them. Letty kept an eye on the men who were unloading the packages from their cars into one black Hummer.

"Yo man where's our money?" One of the other drivers asked.

Letty noticed the smile that crept across Fenix's face and him and a couple of other reach behind there backs.

* * *

Dom followed Mia back into the house. There was a nervous looking kid holding Runner by the collar.

"Come here boy." Dom patted his leg and Runner came charging towards him. "Miss me boy?" The dog rolled over on his belly and Dom obliged the mutt and rubbed his belly. Dom looked up. "So, Mia new boyfriend?" He nodded his head towards Austin.

Mia rolled her eyes. "No, this is Austin he's a friend of Letty's."

Dom stood up making himself look large. He wiped his hands on his pants. "Dominic." He extended his hand.

"Austin." He took Dom's hand to shake.

"So how you know Letty?" Dom tighten his grip on the boy.

Austin pulled his hand from Dom's grip shaking his sore hand. "I meet her at a race one night. She had this sweet Roadrunner doing things I've never seen a muscle car do before. It was crazy..."

Dom smiled he knew that Letty had great driving skills. "Is that so?"

"Yeah... we got to talking after the race she tore a hole in fuel map. I helped her out."

Mia watched her brother try to get the scoop on Austin with amusement. He talked about the modifications he and Letty did to the Roadrunner and the Charger. After a while Dom looked in her eyes and smiled. Mia knew what that smile was all about, she had that same smile after she got to know Austin. He was a lot like Jesse. Mia knew that Austin could never replace the Mad Scientist but he came close.

"Dad?" Zan stood in the middle of the living room staring at his father. Dom walked over to his son and hugged him tight.

"I've missed you." Zan cried.

* * *

Brian was thirty minutes away from the last coordinates tech support had given him on Letty. He gripped the steering wheel tighter determined to get to her. Sophie's phone rang. "Letty?"

"They're smuggling the drugs through mines then they shoot the drivers." She said on the other end.

"What? I can barely hear you..." Brian held the phone closer to his ear. "Letty where are you?"

"Son of a bitch!" Her voice cracked on the phone.

Brian heard the faint sound of a bullet hitting something. "Letty you ok?"

"I stole the drugs... Shit."

Brian was getting frustrated. He could barely make out what she was saying. "Tell me where you are?" He heard the screeching of tires. He speed up faster. "Letty?" He called but the phone went dead. He hit the gas pedals. He dialed air support. "How far away am I from the target."

"You're about 10 minutes away. Keep going south and you'll run right into it. We'll monitor their location." The voice over the phone told Brian.

Brian tried Letty again but got voice mail. "Shit! Shit!" He swore and drove faster.

* * *

Fenix was a better driver than Letty expected and she couldn't shake him especially in the stolen Hummer. When the bullets started to fly everything was chaos. Bullets and people were flying everywhere. In the fray she glanced back the Roadrunner, there was no way she could make it back so she took the closest vehicle to her. One of Braga's black Hummers. It so happened to the one that the drugs were loaded on. Now she had Fenix on her tail shooting to kill. He already shot out the driver side mirror. Next she felt the rumble of a flat tire. She lost control of the car and it swirled off the road flipping several times.

* * *

Zan clung to his father, digging his hands in his back to make sure that he was real he let his crutches drop to the floor. Dom kissed Zan's forehead."Let me look at you." He took a better look at his son. He had gotten taller and a little more muscle than before. "Your hair..." Dom went to ruffled it but Zan jerked back.

"You left." He said in an angry tone.

"Zan." Dom reached out again but the boy hobbled back keeping balance on his good leg.

Zan stood ram rod straight with is fist clenched to his sides staring down his father tears streaming down his face. "Where'd you go? Mom was crying..." He angrily breathed out.

Dom rubbed his head and sighed. He could see the hurt and his son's eyes and he hated that he was the cause of Zan's pain. "I had to go. To protect you and your Mom." He tried to reach out again but Zan jerked away again.

"I hate you." The turned to leave.

"Alexander." Dom called but Zan was already making his way up the stairs. Dom felt Mia's hand on his shoulder.  
"Give him time. He was really hurt." She said to comfort him. "C'mon I'll make you something the eat."

Austin waited until Mia and Dom were in the kitchen before he moved. Quietly he picked up the Zan's discarded crutches and went upstairs to check on Zan. He knocked softly on the open door. "Hey, you ok?" Austin laid the crutches on the side of Zan's desk. He stood there a moment not sure what to say or do.

Zan was on his bed crying. "Mom where are you? Come home please." He threw his phone on the bed. Austin pulled the desk chair next to the bed. "So that was your Dad." He winced inwardly at the stupid question he asked the nine year old. Zan nodded and wiped his nose with his arm. "You know you're lucky..." He said after a moment.

Zan looked at him with a 'yeah right look'. "What do you mean?"

Austin shifted in his chair. "Your parents love you and would do anything for you."

Zan looked at Austin's bruised face and got sad. "Your Dad hits you doesn't he?"

"He started after my Mom left. Blamed me for it. Said I wasn't good enough..." Austin looked at his shoes. "You're lucky cause your Dad cared enough to leave to protect you and Letty. And Letty never blamed him leaving on you. She's pretty awesome."

Zan smiled. "She is pretty awesome." He picked at his sheets. "I just wish I knew where she was." He replied quietly.

* * *

Letty's head was ringing and she could taste blood. She crawled slightly out the window of the Hummer. She froze when she saw Fenix coming towards her with his gun pointed.

There was a time when she believed that she would die young, because of the life she lived. She lived for the adrenaline rush, it was her drug. That's why her and Dom had lasted so long they both lived for the rush. She would do anything for him as long as they were together without a second thought. That all changed for her when she had their son. She no longer needed the rush, but Dom did. He couldn't put that life behind him, settle down be a family with her and Zan.

She could hear Fenix coming closer each step was a step closer to death. She didn't flinch or try to run that wasn't her style. She was a fighter and if she was going down then she would stare death in it's face and tell it to fuck off.

* * *

Brian turned the corner and saw a car off the road. He got out the car and saw the tire marks. They were wide enough to be Hummer tracks. He pulled out his gun and called for back up. He walked carefully down the hill he saw the overturned Hummer and the back of a large man.

* * *

"So how long has she been working for the cop?" Dom asked taking a swig of his beer.

Mia sighed and sat at the table. "Since she got back."

Dom nodded and finished off his beer. He should of known better that Letty wasn't the type of girl to sit in the dark and cry about her man leaving her. She was stronger than that, she would fight. Letty's fight was one of the things that he loved about her.

_Letty leaned against the bureau with her arms crossed. She waited quietly until Dom was finish yelling. She rolled her tongue in her mouth. "You finished bitching like a little girl?"_

_He stopped dead in his tracks. "What?"_

_She pushed off and got in his face. Dom stood rigid towering over her fist clenched. Letty wasn't fazed "I said are you done bitching like a little girl." Dom looked at her with a cold stare. He shook his head and went for the door. But Letty stepped in front of him._

"_Move, Letty."_

"_Not till you talk to me."_

"_I thought I was talking to you, but apparently I was bitching like a little girl."_

_She shook her head. "No you were talking at me, not to me Dom. There's a difference."_

"_You gonna move or do I have to move you."_

"_You touch me Dom, I will cut your balls off in your sleep." She threaten. _

_Dom stepped back a bit. He looked at her shocked. "You would really cut my balls off in my sleep, Letty?" He asked the anger now gone from his voice._

"_If you touch me I will. Don't think I won't Dom."_

_He laughed and came closer. "What if I touch you just a little?" He was again towering over her, but all rigidness gone._

"_Then I cut only a little bit." She measured it with her fingers._

_He laughed. "What if I said I'm sorry. And kiss you?"_

_She tilted her head. "Take off your clothes and find out."_

_Dom did as he was told and stood in front of her in all his glory. She licked her lips and walked over to him. Dom smiled. She stepped closer to him placing her hands on his chest. She allowed him to kiss her gently. Her hands traveled down his chest lazily until it got his balls and she grabbed them a little harder than he would of liked._

_Dom jumped back. "What the fuck, Letty."_

"_Yell at me like that again, Dom and I'll make good on my promise."_

Letty never did just lay down and take his crap. Now she was involved in some crazy mess with Brian and it was killing him that he couldn't be there to help her.

* * *

"So Real Driver, looks like this is the end." Fenix gave her a wicked smile. His gun clicked and Letty knew it was the end. She closed her eyes and thought about her father. Driving down the Pali Highway with the wind going through her hair. The first time she raced a quarter mile. Sunday barbecues with Frankie. Her Abuelita's smile. Laughing with her crazy cousin's Allison and Stacy. Parties at the fort. Vince plucking away at his guitar, Leon trying to mack on some poor girl, and Jesse at the table scratching down his latest designs. Late night talks with Mia over leftovers. Her life with Dom and all its ups and downs. She didn't regret a moment of her life because it all lead to Zan. He was the best thing in her life, her heart and soul.

A shot rang out and Letty opened her eyes. She saw Fenix's body on the ground with smoke coming out of his back. Brian stood there with his gun. "Took you long enough." Letty tried to pull her self out of the Hummer.

Brian ran over to help her. "I got you." He slowly pulled her out. "You alright. Let me look at you." He scanned her body to make sure she didn't have any broken bones. She had a nasty gash on her forehead.

"I've been through worse." She spat out some blood.

He helped her to the main road. There were sirens in the background. "Calvary coming." Brian sat her in his car to wait. He wiped some of the blood from Letty's face.

"So what now?" She asked.

"We get you checked out."

"No about Braga. I stole his supply." She pointed back to the Hummer.

Brian laughed. "We'll figure it out, but you need to get to the hospital first. Ok."

* * *

Gisele walked into Campos office. "Something wrong. I haven't heard from Fenix." He looked up from his drink. "He went off plan. He called off one of the drivers got Letty to do it instead."

Campos slammed his glass down. "What?"

"He had a bad feeling about her. He thought you were getting too close."

He smirked. "He was right."

"What? She's a cop?"

Campos shook his head. "I don't think so, but she isn't what she appeared to be. That's why I kept her close. I wanted to figure her out, before I made my move. Try Fenix again."

* * *

Brian watched as the FBI scanned the wreckage. It was pretty bad, the Hummer had flipped several times. Letty was lucky that she came out alive. The paramedics said that she had a couple of bumps and bruises but otherwise ok. "Agent O'Conner!" a field agent called. The agent jogged up to him. "His phone is ringing."

Brian took the phone and went over to Letty. "It's your move." he gave her the phone.

"Fenix." A female voice called on the other end.

"I'm sorry Fenix can't come to the phone right now. But if you leave a message I'll make sure he gets it."

"Letty?"

"How you living girl?" She asked Gisele.

"Where's Fenix?"

"Dead."

Letty heard shuffling and whispers over the phone.

"Leticia, so good to hear from you."

"Ramon, sorry about Fenix, but he had be put down. He peed on the carpet."

Campos laughed slightly. "So do you have my product?"

"Yes."

"What do you want for it?"

Letty covered the phone and looked at Brian. "He wants to know what we want for the drugs."

Brian took the phone. "Two million in cash and a meeting with the boss."

"Whose this?"

"I'm the guy who has your product. Now do we have a deal?"

* * *

After talking with each other for a couple of hours Dom and Mia bid each other a good night. Dom opened the door to his room. He flicked the light on and scanned the room. Letty hadn't changed much it still looked like it did the day he left. The bed was in the same place, the pictures on the dresser, and Letty's towel draped on the bathroom door knob. He sat down on the bed and buried his head in his hands. "Dom?"

Dom looked up and saw Letty standing in the doorway and smiled. "Hey, Letty."

She stood with her feet stuck to the ground. Dom walked over to her and touched her face. "What happened?"

She felt the anger rise in her. She balled her fist and punched Dom square in the jaw. Dom stumbled back slightly. "Guess I deserved that." He wiped the blood from his lip smirking.

"I missed you muther fucker." She ran into his arms and kissed him. They made their way to the bed making out like teenagers.

Dom could feel the tears fall from Letty's face. "I'm sorry. You have no idea how sorry I am." He mumbled between kisses.

* * *

**A/N:**

I know that I stuffed a lot in this chapter, but I plan on bringing the story to an end soon. With that in mind how was the pacing? I hope I didn't get anyone lost or confused by switching between scenes the way I did. The flow was just the way I saw it in my head.

Merry New Year, hope everyone had a great holiday season. Thanks for reading and reviewing.

Tonya


	32. Chapter 32

Letty kissed the sleeping Dom on the back of the head and slid out of bed. She smirked at the clothes tossed about the room. "Some things never change." She mused. Letty grabbed a tee shirt from her drawer and made her way to Zan's room. This was the first time since they had moved to L.A. that he slept in his own bed. She crawled in next to him. He laid his head on her lap. "Hi Mom." He said sleepily.

"Hey Kiddo." She stroked his hair.

"Dad's back."

Letty chuckled softly. "Yeah I saw him."

"So where we going?"

"Nowhere, Kiddo. I told you this was the last move. I meant it."

"Good, cause I like it here."

"I like it here too." She got under the covers. "Slide over." He did as he was told. Letty wrapped her arm around him. "No matter what happens with your Dad and me we both love you."

Zan yawned. "Ok." He nestled himself next to his mother and went back to sleep.

Dom was awaken by the buzzing of Letty's phone. He looked at the caller id it just had a California number on it.

"Hello." There was a silence over the phone. All Dom could hear was someone breathing heavily. "Hello." He said again.

"Dom?"

Dom recognized the voice but wasn't sure of who it was. "Yeah who's this?"

"It's Brian, Dom."

He grabbed his boxers and stormed out the room. "Your boyfriend on the phone." He tossed the cell at Letty.

"What the hell, Dom?" Letty jumped out of bed.

"Mom." Zan sat up.

"Go back to sleep, Alexander." Dom ordered. "You planning a little rendezvous with Brian?"

"Fuck you Dom." Letty spat back. She grabbed Dom's arm dragging him out the room. "What's your problem?"

"What are you doing with Brian, Letty? Mia all worked up about this. Running the streets, staying out all night, coming home with cuts and bruises. This ain't you, Let."

Letty glared at him. "And how would you know. You left remember. Maybe this is my life now."

Dom shook his head. "No your life is to take care of my son. But it seems you forgot that. You're too busy playing cops and robbers with Brian."

"I never forgot about being a parent to our son."

"Really?" He stepped closer to her. "Then why is he in cast?"

Mia swung her door open. "What's going on?" She looked at her bother and Letty.

Zan stood in his doorway crying.

"Nothing, Mia." Letty stormed down the stairs. She went to the garage and called Brian again.

"Hey O'Conner." She leaned against the work bench in the garage.

"Sooo..." Brian drew out. " Dom's back."

Letty huffed. She pulled her knees to her chest. "He got here last night. Mia called him."

"You still want to go through with the plan?"

"Yeah."

"So see you in a hour at Harry's."

Letty hung up the phone and sighed. This plan had to work if she was going to get her family back. She wanted Zan to grow up with his father. Losing her father was the worst thing that had ever happened to her and when Dom lost Frankie he was inconsolable. She knew it was important to both Dom and Zan to be in each others lives. All her choices since her son was born was about him and his happiness. And she knew that Zan needed his father. Now all she had to do was to get out the house without conflict.

Mia sat on Zan's bed comforting her nephew. "Why'd he have to come back? Everything was fine."

Mia kissed him on the forehead. "He wanted to see you."

"You think Mom is alright?"

Mia smiled. "Letty's the strongest person I know. She's gonna to be fine." She looked at him. "How bout you help me make some pancakes."

Zan wiped his face with his hands. "Alright."

Mia and Zan left his room. She saw Dom sitting on the bed with his head buried in his hands. "She's probably in the garage." He looked up. "Go talk to her, Dom."

_Dom ran his hand over his head frustrated. He had no idea how to make things better, all he knew was that he had to make it better for himself and for the sake of the team. "You know just standing in the doorway ain't a way to fix things." Vince said coming behind Dom. "Talk to her man."_

_Dom didn't turn around he kept looking at the garage where Letty had resided herself in for the last two hours. He didn't have the first clue as to why Letty had snapped on him in the first place. "And say what V? I don't even know why she's so mad."_

_Vince laughed, hard. Dom turned around pissed. "I don't see what's so funny?"_

_Vince wiped a tear from his eye. "Damn, Dom you are a clueless S.O.B aren't you... Man Letty's pissed cause she caught you talking to Christine man."_

"_Shit." Dom sighed. "I was just talking to her."_

_Vince shook his head. "Yeah Dom you never just talked to Christine just like you just don't talk to Letty." he said sarcastically. _

"_I would never cheat on Letty, she knows that."_

_Vince arched his eyebrow. "Does she? Letty had a lot of men leave her. Her Pops, Frankie..." Vince trailed off a second. Losing Frankie didn't just effect Letty. "You sometimes forget that Letty's a woman and sometimes women have this irrational need to hear the words."_

_Dom chuckled. "No more Dr. Phil for you."_

"_Hey the man in a genius. That shit works." Vince smiled and patted Dom on the back. "I'll talk to you later."_

"_Where you going?"_

"_Remember Tracy from the races the other night?" Vince smiled mischievously._

_Dom nodded and laughed. "C'ya bro."_

"_Yeah good look." Vince said pushing Dom out the back door._

_Dom found Letty sitting the Charger looking at the ceiling. He opened the car door and pulled her out._

"_Let the fuck go Dom." She spat._

_He drew her close to him. "No." He wrapped his arms around her. _

_Letty tried to get out of Dom's grip, but it wasn't working. "Surprised you remember I even existed, you seemed to be so involved with Christine. I wouldn't want to keep her from you."_

_Dom took her face and pulled her into a kiss. He pulled away breathlessly. "I love you."_

_Letty bit her lip and looked up at him. "Yeah?"_

"_I was just talking to Christine. You're it for me. You know that right?"_

_Letty toyed with is shirt for a moment. Then a smile crept across her face. "Yeah, but it wouldn't hurt you to say it once in awhile."_

_Dom just laughed and kissed her again._

After getting herself together Letty joined Mia and Zan in the kitchen. "Hey what smells so good?"

"Pancakes. You want some?" Zan asked.

Letty leaned against the refrigerator with her arms crossed. "Sure, _Chef Boyardee." Letty turned to the sound of Dom's footsteps. _

"Letty can we talk?" He asked almost nervously. She nodded and followed him upstairs.

The two of the made their way to the bedroom quietly. Dom closed the door behind them. "I don't want to fight with you." He grabbed her waist and pulled her towards him. He kissed her softly.

"I don't want to fight either." Letty bit her bottom lip.

Dom rested his chin on the top of her head. "We can go to Rio like you wanted."

"No." Letty stepped back from him.

"No?" Dom looked down at her. He was confused.

"I promised him that we would stay put. We have a life here Dom. Zan's has school and friends. I'm not going to take that away from him. And what about Mia?"

"Letty I can't stay here. And I don't want to live without you and Zan. I've missed you two too much."

"You need to stop running. Be a father to your son."

"I'm not running... Letty, how can I be a father if in jail..." He waived his finger at Letty. "And, I won't go back." He bellowed.

"Why do you think I'm doing this? For you to come home. To stop running." Letty went to the closet and pulled out some clothes. "I'm going to finish the job with Brian. I just hope you stay around long enough for it to matter." She kissed him and went in the bathroom to get dressed.

* * *

Brian waited at Harry's for Letty. Stasiak and several other agents were with them. Brian smiled when he saw the black Charger pull into the garage. "Nice ride."  
She smiled. "I thought you'd like it." She walked over to the other agents. "So, how we doing this?" She asked putting her hands in her pockets.

Stasiak spoke up. "You and Agent O'Conner are going to meet Braga's men at the agreed upon location. Once we make sure that we have Braga the FBI will move in and make the bust."

"And what about my deal?"

"I've talked to the D.A. and she's willing to deal. Compared to Braga, Toretto a guppy and they really want this whale."

Letty took a deep breath. "Ok let's do this." She slapped Brian on the the back.

"So you think Braga will show?" Brian asked looking across at Letty. Brian felt unsure about this. Stasiak and the other agents were a little gun ho for his liking. The job could take a bad turn if they didn't wait for his signal.

"I guess we're going to find out." She pointed to the car pulling up. "They're here." Letty and Brian got out the the car.

"Leticia." Ramon called out. Gisele also got out the car with him. "Quién es?"

"Celoso?"

"Quizá un poco." He smiled. "Tia Maria going to be upset. She was already planning our wedding."

"Come on you two. I thought we came to make a deal. You can flirt later." Brian snapped.

"Touchy aren't we. Your friend is impatient. All good things come to those who wait." Campos smiled. "You got my product."

"Deal was we deal with Braga."

Campos nodded. "You're right a deal is a deal." He waived his hand and an older guy stepped out of a black Hummer. Letty recognized him from the club, Spanish Colonel Sanders. He walked over towards them.

"You Braga?"

The old man nodded. "I am. Do you have my product?"

Letty studied the man there was something off about him she couldn't put her finger on what. "Hold up." Letty cocked her head to the side. "You know you can take the boy out the barrio but you can't take the barrio out of the boy. That ain't Braga."

Just as Letty said the last part Campos smiled and pulled out a gun. Brian tackled Letty and began to shoot. "Move, move, move. The target is Campos, Campos is Braga."

More bullets started flying from both sides. Brian and Letty managed to hide. "His getting away." Brian hissed. He took another shot. Letty banged her head on the crate they were hiding behind. Her life with Dom just drove away.

"Clear." Brian heard Stasiak call out. He stood in front of Brian and Letty. He helped her up. "You two alright?"

"Yeah." Brian dusted himself off. "How'd you know, Campos was Braga?" He asked Letty.

"Gut feeling."

Another agent ran over to the trio. "We lost him sir."

"What! Shit how did we lose him." Stasiak yelled. He paced. "I'm going to catch a shit storm for this. How the hell did we manage to loose him Agent Jessup?"

"I don't know, sir." Agent Jessup stuttered out.

"You don't know. That's not an answer!"

Letty leaned into Brian. "I have an idea where he would run." He looked at her and arched his eyebrow.

* * *

Campos lit a candle and formed a cross in the air. "Light a candle for me." A husky feminine voice said behind him. He smiled and lit another candle. "And what should I pray for?" He turned to look at Letty sitting on a pew with her legs and arms crossed. Campos rose to his feet and looked at her. "You know I actually was falling for you."

_Letty s_miled. "I have that effect."

"So you're FBI, DEA?"

Letty laughed. "Do I look like a cop?"

"No."

"I'm just a girl who loves her family."

Brian and several other agents entered the church. Brian cuffed Campos. "Artro Braga you are under arrest You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney present during questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand these rights?"

Letty watched as Brain and the FBI took Campos out and she let out a deep breath. It was over. She could go home. She called Zan.

"Hey, Mom."

"Hey yourself."

"When you coming home?"

Letty walked out of the church. The sun was beaming down on her. She wished that she had her sun glasses. "In a while." She looked at Brian and the other agents congratulate themselves on a job well done. None of them knew how much she could of lost, how much she had already lost.

"Mom you still there?"

"Yeah, Kiddo. Aunt Mia started dinner yet?"

"No. She went to the store to get some groceries. She's making chicken parmigiana."

"Sounds good. Tell her when she gets back to set another place."

"Ok. Whose coming to dinner?"

"A friend."

Letty pulled the Charger in the driveway and got out. She never thought she would be so glad to say the old white house. She looked back and saw that Brian hadn't got out of the car. She sighed and went back to the car. "You know you have to get out of the car."

"I don't think that this is a good idea." He replied keeping a steal focus on the house.

"You have to face her some time." She stuck out her hand. Brian took it and smiled sheepishly.

She stuck her key in the door. "It's all good O'Conner." She said with a wicked grin. When she opened the door Dom was waiting at the foot of the steps.

"Letty where have you been?" He asked. He froze when he saw Brian come in behind her. "What's he doing here? Come to take me in? Break my sister heart again?"

Letty stood between the men. "No, I asked him to dinner."

"Dom, look I never intended to fall for Mia, for any of you..." Brian spoke from behind Letty.

Dom pushed closer to Brian. "I told you if you broke her heart. I'd break her neck." He threaten.

"It's ok Dom." Mia said. "Hi Brian."

"Hey Mia."

She stuck her hand out. "Let's talk outside."

* * *

It was a cool night. Mia wrapped her arms around herself as she sat on the picnic bench. "So talk."

Brian sat beside her. "I'm sorry, Mia. I never meant to hurt you."

"I'm sorry?" She mocked. "That's what you have to say to me after all this time?"

"What I did to you was wrong. I'm sorry. It was...it was the hardest thing I've ever had to do."

"I'm sorry too, Brian. I'm so sorry that you had to come into my home and pretend to love me. I'm so sorry that you ripped my family apart. I'm very sorry that that was hard for you."

Brian looked at his shoes. "I lied to you. I lied to Dom. I lied to everybody. That's what I do best. It's why the Feds recruited me." Mia huffed. "But I am truly sorry."

"So your penitence was getting Letty wrapped up in your world. Have her lie to everyone like you."

"She came to me..."

"You could of said no."

Brian chuckled. "Say no to Letty?" He said looking at her. Mia laughed too.

* * *

Dom stood watching Mia and Brian talk. He still had the urge to break his neck. He felt Letty's hand on his shoulder. "Help me set the table." Her hand traveled down to his hand. "C'mon." Reluctantly Dom followed.

Letty got out the silverware and Dom got the plates. "So what happens now?" Dom asked.

"All depends on you." She placed the forks and knives on the table and Dom followed suite with the plates. They sat the table in silence.

* * *

**Translations**

quién es – whose this

celoso – jealous

quizá un poco.- maybe a little

* * *

**A/N**

It's been a while since I've updated, I didn't have the intention of waiting so long to update, but I have a sudden case of writers block. I like to write a chapter ahead before posting, and this was going to be the second to last chapter, but I couldn't get the last paragraph to flow right, I felt like I was writing in circles. So I haven't updated.

Still don't like the ending... what usually inspires me is other fanfiction it gets my creative juices flowing so other writers who read this get to writing so I can finish my story!

Thanks again for reading, reviewing, adding my story to your favorites, adding me to your favorite authors, etc.

Peace and Love

Tonya


	33. Chapter 33

Everyone sat at the table. The tension between the adults was thick. Austin kept shifting in his seat. He reached for the garlic bread. Dom smiled. "Austin."

The teen jumped slightly. "We have a rule in the Toretto house. The first one to reach for the food says grace."

Austin looked at Letty. "Really?"

She nodded. "Come on Doogie. I'm starving." Letty bowed her head and everyone followed suit.

"Um, Dear God.. it's Austin. Thanks for the food... Amen."

Everyone laughed. "That's a good start." Letty said patting him on the back. "Now pass me some of that garlic bread."

Dinner was long and awkward. No one knew what to say to each other. Zan kept glaring at Dom. Letty noticed the tension between her son and Dom. She knew it would probably be tough for Zan to have Dom back and if he left again it would break him. She hoped that Dom would do the right thing and stop running.

The dishes were cleared, Austin and Dom had planted themselves in front of the television playing video games, Mia and Brian were still talking in the kitchen. Letty and Zan were in his room.

"How you doing?" Letty asked as she sat on his bed.

Zan scratched his nose. "I dunno." He shrugged. He hobbled around packing his book bag for the next day. He scurried around looking for things to put in the bag. He really didn't feel like talking. He stared at his desk trying to figure what to put in his bag next. Two halves of an envelope plopped down on his desk.

"I thought you might want to read it one day."

Zan looked up to his mother. She had kept the letter his father had wrote that he threw away. "Mom." He fell into her chest. "I don't know what to feel. I mean I'm mad at him cause he left, but I'm glad that he's back."

Letty hugged her son. "It's ok that you don't know what to feel. But before you make judgment read the letter. It may help you understand your Dad more." She kissed him on the top of his head.

She laughed. "What?" Zan asked with a grin.

"I still can't get use to you and all this hair. I might have to cut it in your sleep." She teased.

"Mom." He laughed.

"Night, Kiddo."

"Night, Mom."

Zan sat at his desk staring at the letter in front of him. He open both sides and placed them together so he could read it.

_Dom sat at his son's small desk. His knees pressed against his chest. He inhaled deeply and begun to write. _

"_First off I want to tell you this is not your fault or your mother's. I'm the one who messed up. I'm the one who dragged your mother into my mess. She loves me to a fault, just like she loves you. It's you and her now. I'm not going to make excuses for myself. My mistakes cost me my family. That's why I'm leaving, to protect you guys, to give you a life that you both deserve. I'm sorry I'm not going to be there to watch you grow up into a man. To watch you take your first drive or turn on the Toretto charm on the girls. I know you will be ok, Alexander. You're your mother's son. She's tough as nails but she has the biggest heart of anyone I know. Take care of her. Tell her you love her everyday. I didn't do that enough. Before you were born your mother told me that life has a way of changing one's plans. You just have go where it took you. This isn't the life I had plan for you, for your mother so I'm going. I love you son."_

_He stared at the letter her wrote his son for a moment longer then stuffed it in a white envelope sealing it in. He got up and looked around Zan's room one last time. He slung his bag over his shoulder and walked out the door. _

The next few days Dom kept a low profile saying in the house. Brian had agreed not to take him in until Zan's end of the year play of the Wizard of Oz. He sat in the elementary auditorium seat waiting for the curtain to rise. He felt Letty's thumb rub across his knuckles. The little things like holding Letty's he had missed during their time apart. Mia had sat on the other side of him. He had missed his little sister grow up and it broke his heart. She was a lot stronger than he gave her credit for.

"Dominic." Dom looked up. Leon stood in the isle with a beautiful woman at his side. Mia got up and greeted him.

"I thought you two couldn't make it." She hugged Lindsay and Leon.

"Me too, but I couldn't miss the kid's big debut." Leon replied not breaking eye contact with Dom. He squeezed Lindsay's hand tighter. It was taking all his restraint not to leap across Mia and kill Dom. "See your crazy ass plan worked."

Letty removed her hand from Dom's. "I didn't get myself killed." She said hugging him. "Miss you man."

Leon kissed her forehead. "Miss you too baby girl."

Letty hugged Lindsay. "How you living Lins."

"Sick of packing. But, we're almost done. Should be out here for good in a few weeks."

Letty smiled at that. "Hurry your asses up."

"So I take it this is the infamous Dominic Toretto?" Lindsay asked looking at Leon and Letty.

"Dom this is my girl Lindsay. Lindsay, Dom."

She smiled and crossed the seats to hug him. "Nice to finally meet you."

"So I hear your domesticated my boy, here."

Lindsay laughed. "Almost. I'm still working getting him to leave the toilet seat down." She winked at Leon. "Once he mastered that I'll have him right where I want him."

Letty made a swooshing sound. "Damn, boy she got you whipped."

Leon head locked her. "Whatever." He gave Letty a nuggie.

"God every time you two get together it's like the third grade all over again." Mia laughed. "Sit down the play is about to start." Mia ordered.

"Yes Momma Mia." Letty said taking her seat. Mia rolled her eyes.

The curtain raised and the play started. Letty grabbed Mia and Dom's hand when Zan hobbled on stage. "Look at my man." She couldn't but smile at the sight of her son. They had worked around Zan's new handicap and wrapped his crutches in the same silver material they did his costume. The play was as good as any elementary school play would be. Most of the kids forgot their lines, some cried, and other just froze. But the way the parents hooted and hollering at the end of the show, it sounded like a Broadway performance. When Zan name was called everyone stood up. Letty stood up in her seat. "I made that!" She shouted.

Mia buried her face in her hands. "God Letty." She laughed.

Letty looked down at her. "What? Can't a mother admire her work. That kid got talent." She stuck her fingers in her mouth and whistled.

Dom grabbed her waist and pulled her down. "You're gonna embarrass him." He was holding her at eye level. Both of them knowing what the curtain closing meant. "I don't want him to see." He said under his breath. Letty nodded and placed her head in the crook of his neck. "I'm proud of you Dominic Toretto." she whispered. He put her down and hugged his sister.

"I'm sorry."

Mia held on tight to her brother. "I love you."

"Love you too."

He turned to Leon and hugged his brother. The hostility that Leon felt for Dom faded away as he hugged him. No matter how hard he tried he could never stay mad at Dom for long. "See ya brotha." Leon rubbed his head. "For luck."

Dom turned his attention to Lindsay. "Take care of my brother for me." She nodded and hug him.

He turned back to Letty and took her hand. They walked out together not speaking holding tight to each other's hands.

Brian was waiting for them outside. Sophie and Stasiak were with him. Brian slid off the car he was sitting on. "Ready."

Dom nodded and turned to Letty. He caressed her face and kissed her with all the love he had. When they were out of breath he then placed butterfly kisses across her face and finally rested his forehead on hers. "I had a dream last night."

Letty huffed. "Yeah?"

"You and me were back on that beach in Mexico. You were so beautiful sitting there in the sand holding our perfect son. He was only a few days old. Remember what I said to you?"

___Dom rolled over and noticed that Letty wasn't beside him anymore. "Letty?" He called out. No answer. He noticed that the patio doors were open. He grabbed some sweats and stepped out on the patio. He saw Letty in the sand just as the sun was coming up. He went back in a grabbed a blanket from the bed. He walked out until he to Letty. "Couldn't sleep?" He sat down beside her wrapping both of them in the blanket. _

_"__I wanted to get him use to the ocean. Don't want my boy to be a big puck whose afraid to get a little wet."_

___Dom laughed and gently stroked his son's head. "I'm not afraid of water. I just don't like it."_

_"__Potato, patato." She laid her head on his shoulder. _

_"__Letty, I was thinking... You and Alexander should head back to LA." He ran his hand over his head. "I talked to Mia last night and..."_

___Letty put her hand up to stop him. "Dom when are you gonna get it through that thick skull of yours, you're stuck with me and the kid. The only way you're gonna get rid of us is for you to leave. And if you do that I will hunt you down and cut out your cojones."_

___Dom sighed. "This isn't how I thought things would go for us."_

___The baby began to fuss. Letty rocked him softly to clam him. "Life unpredictable, Dom. You think I expected ever becoming a mother?" She kissed the baby on the forehead. "After seeing him, I can't imagine my life without him." She smiled at Dom. "Can't see my life without you too."_

___Dom kissed her and kissed his son. "I'm gonna make things better for us, Let. Do right by you and our son. I promise."_

She nodded.

"I meant it then." He lifted her chin forcing her to look at him "And I mean it now."

"Time to go." Brian put his hand on Dom's back.

Dom exhaled and went with Brian.

**A/N**

Almost to the end of the road. This was the last chapter, but I put it in two parts. Still not feeling how I ended things so I need more staling time. Thanks for sticking with me.

Tonya


	34. Chapter 34

Letty nervously bounced her knee she had a feeling in her gut things weren't going to go her way. Things never seemed to work out the way she plan, life wasn't that good to her. But she had learned to deal with what life had thrown at her. She had to in order to survive. The lost of her father, Frankie, the team, and Dom. She had taken it all in stride fighting against the tide that kept knocking her down. She was strong, not because she wanted to be. There were times when Letty just wanted to curl up in a ball and cry in a dark corner. This was one of those times. But she didn't have that luxury. She had to be strong, for Dom, Zan, and herself. She sat between Leon and Mia both held her hand. Brian was behind her with Sophie. Dom hadn't looked back during the whole trial.

When the judge returned everyone stood up. He motioned for everyone to sit. The judge looked straight at Dom when he spoke. "I've gone over the deal with the DA and I can't look past that for the last nine years you have evaded the authorities. You stole millions of dollars in merchandise and I can't with good conscience just look the other way." He paused a moment and turned his attention to Letty. "I've read Agent O'Conner's report and all the trouble your girlfriend went through to get you this deal. Artruo Braga is a dangerous man and we all are for the better now that he is behind bars. I won't turn a blind eye to the law. I've taken in consideration the DA deal and I've made my decision. Dominic Toretto I now sentence you to twenty-five years time in Lompac correction penitentiary. You will be able for parole in five."

Letty's knee stop bouncing and fought back the lump that was forming in the back of the throat. She felt Mia's hand tighten around hers. Leon wrapped his arm around her. "You alright?" He asked. Letty just nodded her head.

"This is bull shit." She heard Brian cursed under his breath and stormed out the court. Letty could feel Mia's tears fall on her hand. She kept her cool. She had to Zan was sitting on the other side of the door with Lindsay. She couldn't loose it, she knew it was a chance that Dom would go to jail. The judge slammed his gavel down making his decision final. Dom didn't look back as they walked him out of the courthouse.

Outside the courtroom Brian paced in the courthouse hallway swearing under his breath to himself. When Letty and the others came out he went on a rant. "This is bullshit. twenty-five years that's a bit excessive. I mean we brought the biggest drug dealer in the county and he still gives Dom twenty-five fucking years." He waived his arms angrily in the air.

"O'Conner." Stasiak yelled. "Control yourself."

Brian cut his eye at his commanding officer. He saw Letty crouched in front of her son and he stormed out with the other FBI agents on his heels.

Letty ignored Brian's rant and turned her attention to her son. Letty bent down in front of Zan. "Dad's going away isn't he." He said looking at his shoes.

Letty place her hands on his knees. "Yeah." She croaked out.

"How long?"

"A while."

Zan nodded and hugged his mother tight. Zan held on to Letty as if his life depended on it. His fingers dug into her back. Tears slowly running down his cheeks. Letty pulled away from him. She stared into his eyes for a moment and wiped the tears from his eyes. "We're gonna be fine I promise."

Zan nodded. She placed a light kiss on his forehead. She stood up and took his hand. "C'mon let's get out of here." Mother and son walked out the courtroom together. Nobody wanted to meet their eyes. She smiled slightly. "It's gonna be alright guys." She looked over to the FBI agents. Brian and her locked eyes for a moment.

"You guys go ahead back to the house. I'm gonna talk to O'Conner for a moment." Letty stroked Zan's hair back. "Go with them. I won't be long."

He nodded and walked away with Lindsay. Leon and Mia stayed behind for a moment. Mia had tears in her eyes. She too followed Lindsay and Zan.

"Need me to stay?" Leon asked.

Letty hugged Leon tight. He was a good friend. "I'll be fine Leon."

He looked at her once more. "Alright, if your ass ain't home in an hour I'm coming to get you."

She nodded silently and walked over to the FBI agents.

Brian was pacing back and forth pissed. He couldn't believe what had happened in the court room.

"Calm down O'Conner." Stasiak barked. "He got off lightly."

"Bullshit."

"Watch it." The older agent got in his face. "You're forgetting what side you're on. We put the bad guys away. Like or not Toretto is a bad guy. He got off pretty easy if you ask me."

Brian was about to lunged at Stasiak but Letty caught his wrist. He looked down at the hand holding back and he relaxed a bit. She was staring at him with the most intense gaze. He followed her quietly to a bench in front of the courthouse. They were quiet for a while, neither of them wanted to break the peace that the silence gave them.

Brian was the first to speak. "I'm sorry, Letty." It was lame and he knew that. But that was all he could say. He was sorry for everything. He had promised her Dom and he let her down. "I let you down."

She took his hand and squeezed it. "You brought him home, Brian. That was my reason for coming back, for Dom to come home."

He turned to her. He saw the tears about to fall. He wrapped his arm around her. She laid her head on his shoulder and cried. She let the tears fall freely. She felt happiness for the first time in eight years. She was free. Free from the guilt of the heists and the repercussions that came after. Free from the lies she told her family and herself. Free to plant roots and raise her son the way she always wanted. After a while she stopped crying, the tears couldn't form any longer. She wiped her eyes almost raw.

Brian squeezed her shoulder tighter and kissed her lightly on the side of her head.

"So what now?" He asked her.

She looked at him with red, puffy eyes and smiled brilliantly. "We go where life takes us."

They sat there quietly enjoying each other company for a moment. Then Letty slapped him on the knee. "C'mon O'Conner let's get out of here."

Letty got out of her car and smiled as she leaned on the front of the jeep. Through the living room window she could see Austin laughing about something. Mia was sitting on the edge of the couch talking to Lindsay. Leon came into the room handing Mia and Lindsay a soda. She turned back at the sound of Brian pulling up behind her. Brian came up and sat beside her. He gazed into the window alongside her. "You know the reason why I wanted to join the force?" He didn't wait for Letty answer before he spoke again. "I wanted to be apart of something bigger than myself. To be apart of the band of brothers. My first big case was yours. I thought that was my chance to make a difference, get the bad guys off the street. To play my part. Funny thing was things weren't as black and white as my superiors made it to be. Being on the team..." He turned to Letty. "For the first time I felt like I was on the wrong side. Crazy, huh?"

She shook her head. "No." Letty met Brian's eyes and smiled. They held their gaze for a moment until the front door swung open. Rosalia stood there wiping her hand on a dish rag. "You two are going to catch a cold standing out there. Come inside, dinner almost ready." The old woman said.

Letty took Brian's hand and lead him inside. Zan was sitting on the steps with his head in his hands looking very much like Dom.

"Hey kiddo." She smiled warmly and sat beside him.

"Hey Mom. You alright?" He asked.

She nodded and wrapped her arm around her son. "I'm here with you aren't I?" She kissed him on the side of the head.

Brian cleared this throat feeling awkward. Letty hopped back up wiping her hands on her pants. "Zan I want you to meet a friend of mine." She stood up next to Brian. "Brian this is my and Dom's son Alexander. Zan this is Brian O'Conner."

Zan sat on the steps a moment sizing up the man his mother was standing beside. Brian shifted uncomfortably in the boys gaze.

"Hey." He slowly got up and extended his hand out to Brian. "Nice to meet you."

Brian smiled at Letty then back at the boy. "Likewise."

"Zan, venido y fijado la tabla ." Rosalia yelled from the kitchen. Zan rolled his eyes and did as he was told. Letty and Brian laughed.

"O'Conner!" Leon called. "Please help me school this child." Leon said pointing to Austin. "He thinks that the WRX is better than my old Skyline."

Brian smiled. "He has a point." He walked up to Leon and Austin.

Leon laughed. "At the top of head. You gonna tell me that the Impreza is better than a Skyline? In what magical little world do you live in, cupcake?" He slapped Brian on the back.

Letty shook her head. "Both of you need to shut up. Cause you both know 240SX would wipe the floor with your matchbook cars."

Leon feign shock. "Matchbook? Baby girl I do recall kicking your ass in my Skyline back in the day."

Letty laughed, Mia rolled her eyes and got up to join Rosalia in the kitchen. "God you all. Lindsay you want to come with? This could go on all night."

Lindsay nodded kissing Leon on the cheek. "Boys and their toys." She nudged Letty on her way out.

Letty leaned against the beam in the living room with her arms crossed. "You're outta your mind. Cause you never beat me. You couldn't even beat me with a 20 sec head start, Hoke."

Everyone laughed. The doorbell rang and Letty went to answer it.

Stacey her family and Allison were at the door. Letty hugged them all and invited them in. Letty and Leon continued their great debate wither or not he beat her in a race until Rosalia declared dinner was ready. Everyone gathered at the dinning room table. They were all packed in at the table. "Leticia why don't you say grace." Rosalia suggested.

"Ha ha, Mom." Zan laughed poking his Mom. Letty rolled her eyes and said grace.

Letty waived good bye to Leon and Lindsay who had promised to come by in the morning before they left again for Virginia. Stacy her family, Allison, and Rosalia had long ago left. Austin was mesmerized by the current game he was playing. Mia was curled in the lazy boy with Runner reading a book. "Hey I'm heading up." Letty said to Mia.

"Ok, good night." Mia replied smiling from her book.

Austin mumbled something resembling goodnight.

Letty headed up the stairs towards Zan's room. She paused at the door. Brian and Zan were in Zan's room. The boy was showing the FBI agent his impressive collection of Matchbook cars. "This one is my favorite." Zan showed Brian a mini replica of a black 1987 Buick GNX. My Dad used to drive one just like this." Zan beamed. "He would let me drive it sometimes."

Brian laughed. "Yeah?"

The boy nodded. "He would let me sit on his lap. We would go so fast. Mom would get mad cause I was out of my car seat. But Dad didn't care, he would just go faster." He placed the toy car back in the display case. "I don't know what happened to that car." He said solemnly. "We left it behind when we came here." Zan picked up another car. Brian smiled at the toy car. "My Mom got this one for me." It was a green Roadrunner much like the one Letty had him get. "She says there nothing like the feel of Detroit muscle."

Letty listened to Zan talk to Brian about his collection of cars. He had a story behind each one of the collectibles. Like the 69 Cadillac Sedan Deville Tego got him after he lost a foot race with Zan when he was seven and the Audi R8 as a thank you from Han for being his "little wing man."

Ten years ago she never thought she would want the stability of family life. She was a junky addicted to adrenaline. But her life had a funny way of changing sometimes for the worst and sometimes for the better. When her father died she thought her world had ended. Then she moved in with her Abuelita and cousins and a whole new life started. She meet Frankie, Mia and Dom. She fell in love with Dom and the rush. Frankie died and Dom went to jail and Letty found herself lost again. Life after Dom got back was rocky at first then she found herself falling for him all over again. Her life revolved around him and the rush. In one swoop she lost all the people she held dear. All that was left was her and Dom. Once again her life got better with the birth of her son. She remembered something that her Abuelita had told her once at a time when she was lost.

_Rosalia saw her granddaughter sitting on the hood of her car picking at her fingernails. She wasn't pleased that Letty refused to come in to Mass. Letty had been through a lot in a couple of weeks. She had been through a lot in her short seventeen years of life. Her mother picking up her bags and leaving without so much as a good bye. Losing her father so young. Then losing her pseudo father, Frankie took at toll on the girl. But like always Letty was unshakable. It was witnessing Dom's brutal act of violence Rosalia thought that would finally do her in. But she just put more bricks on the wall she had built up. So she decided that she wasn't going to press her about coming in. The fact that she agreed to take her was enough. _

"_You missed a wonderful sermon, Leticia. Father Leo asked about you. He wanted to asked your opinion on a car."_

_Letty huffed. She slid off the car and got in the driver's seat. Rosalia followed suite and got in as well._

"_Why do you even bother?" She asked._

"_Bother with what Leticia?" _

_Letty licked her lips. For some reason she was pissed. "With this Mass, Father Leo, God. If he's so fucking benevolent then why did he take Pop away? Frankie... and Jesus now Dom. How can a benevolent God fuck me over so much? Am I not good enough? You didn't light enough candles?" Letty was gripping the steering wheel shaking. She fought back the giant lump in the back of her throat that was forming. She wasn't going to cry._

_Normally Rosalia would have scolded Letty for cursing, but this was coming for a while. Letty finally breaking down those walls she had built. Rosalia lovely tucked the hair behind Letty's ear. "My nieta hermosa no one knows what God's reasons are. But believe me nieta this pain will go away. And one day you will look back and figure it out for yourself. The reason." She kissed her on the check and the girl finally broke. Rosalia took her granddaughter in an embrace and held her._

She had to learn to make sacrifices for Zan's sake. Losing Dom was the biggest sacrifice she ever had to make. She loved Dom with all she had and was thankful for the gift he had given her. She looked at Zan laughing and smiling it was all worth it. Letty held back for a while soaking in the sight of Zan being a normal kid talking about toy cars. It was a long road but Letty finally understood what her Abuelita meant about finding the reason for life all those years ago.

-Fade to black

**Translations**

venido y fijado la tabla – come and set the table

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**A/N**

I wanted to thank all of you who took time out to read my fic. It means alot really. Especially those of you who took the time to review. This is the end of the journey for this story. This was my longest fic ever, don't think I will do any multi chapter fics anytime soon they are all consuming, but thanks to being snowed in I could finish. However I will have a sort of epilogue to this story called Time Heals so look for it! Cause I have to get Dom and Letty back together, just not in this story. This was about Letty and her redemption of sorts, learning to stand on her own without Dom.

"End creid

I hope someone caught the "Hoke" reference if not "Hoke" is Morgan Freeman's character in Driving Miss Daisy.


End file.
